Oh no! Not that! Moans, groans, restless shuffling! Politics are soooooo boring. Falling into a coma would be more interesting. Politics are a confusing, quarrelsome, waste of time. It all ends up in stupid fights. Politicians say one thing, and do another.
Most of them don’t do anything at all.
Why bother with Politics?
That’s a good question. The only sensible reason to bother with politics and politicians is that politicians promote ideas. Ideas result in policies. Policies result in laws. What becomes law can make your life better - or worse.
That’s worth paying attention to.
Unfortunately, There’s no agreement on either the right politician or the best policy.
The Greeks who invented democracy recognized the problem from the get-go. No one thought democracy the perfect way to govern; only the best of all the other possibilities.
Aristotle thought democracy would be impossible for any polis larger than 5,000 citizens. Neither Aristotle nor any other Greek gave any thought at all to a polis of millions-plus, made up of disparate cultures, with conflicting ideas of right and wrong.
Had Athens maintained the number of citizens it had at its founding it would never have voted for the Peloponnesian War.
The notion behind democracy is that small communities of like-minded citizens will tend to vote for common-sense policies that will be good for all its citizens. It was also assumed that small communities of like-minded citizens will elect sensible politicians to carry out these sensible policies.
Perfectly sensible, almost self-evident. In an Aristotelian polis those notions would work perfectly.
In a polis of millions-plus, made up of disparate cultures, with conflicting ideas of right and wrong, lynch mobs are often said to be the purest form of democracy.
In reality, no form of government is without problems.
Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help”. That’s sadly true for any government, anyplace, at any time.
People got along with no government at all for thousands of years. Small groups of extended-family groups have no need for government.
Cities, Nations, and Realms quickly run to chaos without government.
I recently saw a news report that claimed the Amish community has nearly doubled since the beginning of the 21st century. Pennsylvania isn’t getting crowded though. The Amish have founded new communities in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.
That seems much the same as the typical practice of the earliest Greek polis. When the polis grew too large, people left to found a new polis further away. I think the Amish think much the same as the early Greeks.
Workable communities are small communities.
Also, small communities generally have more room between houses.
Elbow space may have as much to do with livability as the size of the population.
I once lived on a block with twenty-some feet between houses. The houses on the next block over were ten feet apart. The houses on the third block over were less than five feet apart. The condition of the houses deteriorated as the houses were closer together. The socio-economic condition of the residents was about the same on all three blocks.
The only difference was how close they lived from each other.
That’s not scientific proof, only my observation.
Another advantage of small community is that everyone knows everybody else.
Many born into small towns complain about everybody knowing everybody else’s business. That’s sadely true, but it also means bad people can’t escape comeuppance by melting into the crowd.
Cities breed crime. Villages breed good behavior.
Not always, but generally.
Families, surrounded by people they think of as family, are probably the best polis possible. It’s natural. It’s manageable. It doesn’t require government.
Government is a blunt instrument that is inherently coercive.
Politics and politicians are a necessary evil. We’ve no choice but to choose between them as best we can. Guess between them is more accurate. For me, staying away from politics and politicians is wisest of all. I’ve plenty to do to fix myself without worrying about fixing everybody else.
So, I don’t.
Live, breathe, mind your own business. That’s my policy. It lacks drama, but it isn’t annoying. There’s always fresh crusaders ready to jump feet first into politics. Let them.,
Sometimes politics are dangerous.
More often, only amusing.