Passion and Power

I think most people have things that they are passionate about, whether it is sports, music, literature, or even your favorite television show, there is something that most of us like to put our whole being into and we enjoy talking about it. There is nothing that can make us feel more satisfied or frustrated than the things we are passionate about. One of the things that I am passionate about is politics. When I was younger, people used to tell me that I should be a politician when I grew up; of course, this was before I developed anxiety. However, while I realize that any aspiration of being a United States senator or representative is little more than a pipe dream and not one I think I would even truly want, I think as a citizen being passionate about politics and social issues is important.

I’m going to be honest, this past presidential election did not go the way I wanted it to, not even in the slightest. However, something that gave me hope was seeing so many people around my age getting involved and actually caring about politics, at least during the primaries. I know so often politics seems boring and tedious to look into and many times it seems as though nothing we do makes any difference anyway; however, your voice does make a difference. If only that one voice can create a ripple effect resulting in a call to action. Social issues won’t just disappear if we ignore them, in fact, by ignoring them they become worse and more people suffer. The United States is a country ruled by greed, unheeding to the needs of other people or even the needs of its own people unless there is a profit to be made in aiding them. Why do we allow that? Why do we allow corporations to infringe on democracy? I have heard many people, who decided not to vote after Senator Bernie Sanders lost the candidacy, claim that there was no point in voting, no point in getting involved because their vote, their voice was less than an annoying buzz to the establishment and to the corporations that control them. They claim that our representatives and our rulers are not chosen by the people, but rather selected by the establishment and the high-power corporations. I don’t mean to sound radical, but isn’t giving up, and lying down in defeat just what they want? How is anything going to change if when things get hard we just bitterly resign ourselves to our fate? Perhaps, the idea of pushing against the status quo of compliance is considered radical, or to some whiny, but isn’t that the point of democracy?