I've wanted to start blogging for quite some time, but just haven't taken the plunge. Concern for whether I will be able to sustain posting regularity or whether anyone will care what I write has, until now, outweighed my conviction that I have something to say.
Seeing that I've had 114 page views - of my BLANK blog - just helped tip the scales. So here I go...
Blog #1: Why Politics?
I've titled my blog "Faith. Family. Politics." for several reasons. In that order, those are the 3 things that are most important to me. They make me who I am and they are the topics I love to talk about. First, Faith in God is at the center of all things for me. Second, I believe serving and nurturing my Family is my highest earthly charge from God. I'm guessing many who read this will agree, at least in part, with those notions. They will be the topic of my thoughts in blogs to come...
But Politics as #3? What about Friends? Career? Recreation? Hobbies?
It drives me crazy when I hear people say, "I hate politics." or "I don't like to talk politics." I understand the sentiment behind those statements. The ineffectiveness, waste and ineptitude of government are deflating to say the least. But the extent that people don't care about, disengage from and completely avoid politics is alarming to me. Americans will almost universally agree that our country is heading in the wrong direction, but more than half apparently fail to make the connection that politics (for good or bad) is the force behind that trajectory. It's mind-boggling to watch street interviews that show Americans who have no clue about their leaders or government structure.
WWII Germany and modern-day North Korea clearly demonstrate that politics impacts every facet of life. Imagine life under either of those regimes! They may seem extreme examples, but I'm guessing the eventual political landscape of both was not the choice of its citizens. I wonder if apathy and avoidance of politics was the crack in the door that desolation walked through?
Charles Krauthammer, one of today's most brilliant minds, quoted John Adams in his book "Things That Matter" to drive home the point that "politics is the indispensable foundation for things elegant and beautiful." Adams wrote: "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain." (emphasis added)
If we get our politics wrong, all that we hold dear is in danger of being swept away. Faith. Family. Friends. Career. Recreation. Hobbies. Tyranny is not a word we like to use in America because we fought to throw it off over 200 years ago. Perhaps the passage of time has made us forget how tyranny prompted us to forge a political system that worked to protect what we held dear. Look around though. Pay attention. That which we hold dear is gradually slipping away from view.
That's why Politics.
