Hey Christi,
I'm going to be real with you, I first clicked on your article in a rage. How dare you not be involved in politics! Have you seen the state of things around here!? How could you not care?! I was already drafting my response article in my head. It was about as calm and collected as a rabid dog and about as tasteful as a bowl of microwaved peas.
Then, I actually read your article and used those good ol' fashioned critical thinking skills people seem to forget they have. It's true, politics are super stressful, and George Washington is most definitely having a conniption in his grave at how divided the parties are.
We live in a country where the people have the freedom to have a voice, but they're also free to not use their voice. If we forced everyone to be involved in politics, we'd be as bad as those who force people outof politics.
It's all about personal agency. You're free to be involved, you're free to not be involved. It's all about what you want and what you're comfortable with. You're not about that political life, and that's totally fine.
Jesus Christmas I'm jealous of you. I hate politics. I'd rather pull my toenails out one by one with a pair of plyers than keep up with what our government is doing.
Yet, I'm extremely involved in this raging dumpster fire. If you check my Odyssey page, nearly everything I write is politically charged. I remind my friends to vote so often they're starting to make fun of me. I call my senators like a crazy ex-boyfriend begging for the slightest scrap of their attention.
The reason? I'm transgender. Republicans in office aren't exactly my best friends. In fact, I'm pretty sure they literally hate me.
I'm involved in politics because if I don't vote for people who support my right to live and be protected, people who want me dead will be elected in their place. That statement is, believe it or not, not an exaggeration.
To answer why I'm letting politics separate us, it's out of necessity.
Because of the GOP's consistent support of discrimination against trans people, I'm more than a little wary around Republicans. But can you blame me? It's extremely difficult for me to trust someone who proudly associates with a group of people that has shown such animosity towards trans folks. What if this person's transphobic, too? Will he/she harass me? God forbid, kill me? I don't know, and I'm too scared to risk it.
If politics were mainly discussing how wide roads should be, yes, it'd be ridiculous to let that separate us. But there is a terrifyingly large number of people who don't even think I deserve to live.
I didn't separate myself from Republicans. Republicans separated themselves from me.
Fun fact, I don't care if Republicans think I'm sick, disturbed, or disgusting. I can't control what they think about me, so I don't care. I do care when they let these factually incorrect beliefs influence their laws. You can think I'm a disgrace against God or whatever all you want, I just don't want you supporting laws that make it easier for people to discriminate against me.
Didn't think I had to spell that one out. But alas, here I am crawling up my senators' asses.
So, was this a pitch to try and get you to join the dark side? Nah. I'm not expecting you to have some grand epiphany while reading this that'll suddenly get you marching in the streets with me. Don't get me wrong, that'd be rad as hell, but you don't do politics, and I respect that.
I do hope that I put some things into perspective for you as someone who is super involved, and to remind you how fortunate you actually are that you don't have to do politics.
