tripe

i've been reading a lot of political and social criticism lately--chomsky, mailer, vidal and the like. it's got me to thinking about my own views, as murky as those may be. i definitely feel passionate about certain topics (personal freedom, equality, fair distribution of power, etc.) but i wouldn't identify myself as one group or the other. i guess, for lack of a better term, i'm a libertarian, though conservatives have recently pretty much corrupted that word, as they do with so many other things, so i'm a bit hesitant, as you might imagine, to throw it around without first considering my audience--that is, assuming anyone gives a damn (and they don't).

one of the things i've been thinking about is the idea of power. furthermore, how it is often, if not always, misrepresented in every political system. it's terrifying, not to mention, fundamentally wrong, how accepting we have become of the current system. we elect officials, other human beings masquerading as moral demigods, to police our own private affairs--to govern our world and enact principles which we are forced to believe in. i say "forced" because, if we had it our way, things like taxes and legislation on certain issues wouldn't concern us in the least bit. they are government-made ideas, yet they affect us, because we let it. we allow the government to play the role of mommy and daddy anytime we run into a crisis. rather than solve it ourselves, we rely on our leaders to decide what is right or wrong in each particular case. to me, that is a very scary notion.

what would happen, i wonder, if we all just stopped participating in elections and so forth? like a child, if we stopped encouraging the government by paying it attention? would this empower them stop performing for the people and decide things amongst themselves, no longer having to prance around in their little game of magical pr theatre? or would it dissolve altogether, become obsolete, finally restoring, and forgive the cliche, power to the people? i don't know. and part of me really, genuinely doesn't care.

thus far in my life i've managed to avoid politics on any direct level, that is through actual participation, and it's resulted in no great loss on my part. i pat attention, of course, watching the constant political metamorphosis unfolding all the time, always in flux, and i sometimes offer critiques, generally accepted by my like-minded, similarly-oriented friends, but i never get my hands dirty in it, so to speak. i just let it happen. and, honestly, it's never affected me in any tangible way. i've never felt the long dick of the law first-hand even when so many others have. it makes me wonder if it even matters at all. i'm sure it does. but until i experience it, bodily, personally, i will never know. then again, we all know what happens when you tempt big brother. we all know what happens when you direct your frustrations at god and start to question his existence. you get struck down. by lightning. maybe just a little taste of electricity, a little spark, is all i need to fucking rail.

the point is: i know i'm getting screwed. i can feel it. something's not right. something in my mind tells me i'm getting hosed. but i don't know how.