Following Politics Feels Like Being In A Toxic Relationship
There is a never-ending stream of coverage every time a politician opens their mouths these days. Any statement is played over and over in the media to drum up subtext and create any amount of controversy that is possible. Even if you go out of your way to ignore it, it will find a way to seep into your life through social media or some other method.
It’s worse for those that try to follow what’s going on in the political world, even just to try and understand the basics of what bureaucrats are up to. A simple Google search will leave you bombarded by millions of different sites giving their angle of the story. Trying to sift through the opinions masquerading as news will wear down even the strongest of minds in short order.
It certainly doesn’t help that the politicians themselves are some of the biggest perpetrators of the verbal warfare that is used to try and convince voters to support them. Every word that comes out of their mouths is meant to reaffirm some politically skewed view or cast aspersions on their opponent’s way of thinking.
It’s only logical that the political bombs being lobbed by each side would cause collateral damage and affect everyday people.
Opponents of welfare programs call people lazy and say they are trying to live off the hard work of others. They lobby against government spending and end up ridiculing people who are usually the most in need of help. They don’t just kick people when they’re down; they waterboard them with hatred for being poor or disabled.
When name-calling doesn’t get the job done, they switch to threats. Just look at Mitch McConnell’s latest stunt, saying that Republicans would grind the gears of the government to a halt and hurt Americans in need if Democrats dared to change anything with the filibuster. Never mind that McConnell himself changed the rules of the filibuster when it best suited him.
Politicians will lie and change the story and deny any and everything to keep the narrative on their side. They casually forget the things they said or did just a short while ago and tell you that you’re wrong. Like the stimulus being $2,000 for every American. Suddenly it’s $1,400 because you already got $600 a couple months ago. And now it’s only for people making less than a certain amount.
When you have had enough and finally try to call them out for their actions, they’ll either ignore you outright or dismiss your concerns. They’ll say you don’t understand the intricacies of the federal government and it’s best to leave it to them to handle. You voted for them after all; they are above you.
While all this is going on, they’ll keep pointing to the other side as the real problem. If it weren’t for them, they could help you. If they had more power they could finally make real changes, but their hands are tied. Don’t you see that they’re the victims in all this?
And at the end of the day you find yourself defending them. They may not be perfect, but they’re your representatives. They don’t actually help all that much, but the other guys want to hurt us so it’s better to keep them around. You start arguments with anyone who criticizes them, eventually alienating friends and family who don’t agree with you.
You ignore their faults and applaud them for doing the bare minimum. You show up at the polls and keep voting for them because they passed a law saying you get to keep an extra $5 per paycheck. You write angry messages on Facebook and put up their signs in your lawn because they say they hate the same people you do.
It all seems crazy, doesn’t it? It sounds like what goes on in some former-Soviet authoritarian regime. No way that is America.
Just look at the past few elections and tell me I’m wrong. From the Trump flags waving all over the place to liberals saying Republicans are all racists, it’s all played out in our lives in some way. It’s two former-American authoritarian regimes at war for the future of the country.
And we the American people are the ones who feel the brunt of the bickering and backbiting.
If you go back through everything I said that politicians do to voters, they’re all signs of emotional and mental abuse. Belittling, name-calling, threatening, gaslighting, ignoring you, making you feel that you’re underneath them, feigning helplessness, turning you against friends and family. If you described it to a mental health expert, they’d say it’s a classic case of Stockholm syndrome.
Politicians and voters have always been engaged in a delicate waltz, trying to keep pace with one another to ensure it all goes smoothly. When both sides are in unison, it can be an elegant display of harmony. It hasn’t been that way for a long time, unfortunately.
At some point the politicians took the lead and forced us to step to their beat, like a flower girl with an adult at a wedding. We’re “dancing”, but we have lost control of the situation a long time ago, if we ever had it.
And much like the rest of the masochists who write about politics, my dance card is full.
