We're all politicos now

There's no avoiding it: We've all been sucked into the miasma.

A little something for your Super Bowl Sunday.

Last week, I was in a group discussion with a few other writers. We’re all working on various projects, and one of the writers had some concerns. The writer is working on a book, one that involves a certain domestic terror incident from a few decades ago, and its direct and incalculable impact on their life. It’s an amazing concept, and I hope that it comes to fruition at some point.

One thing that the writer did say about it, that made them want to pursue the project NOW, and with vigor, is that on January 6—the day of the coup that we’re all pretending didn’t happen—she saw “the same people” destroying the Capitol. The same people who were behind the attack that affected them so deeply years ago. So, it could be a timely project.

We were discussing how we would talk about our respective projects during an interview, or if we were to make a media appearance. The writer said that one thing they’d like to avoid is any type of political slant, or politics at all. I don’t blame them.

All this person wants to do is share their story and how it connects to current events. Not get involved in the muck, have their friends or family members get on their case about their views (or what they suspect their views might be), and be sucked into the political miasma so many of us find ourselves caught in.

But suspected that’d be impossible. I asked them what they would do when the conversation did turn political. If, for instance, they were doing an interview, and the host steered the conversation to politics. I think that their project would absolutely attract this type of conversation, even if it wasn’t intended.

They didn’t know what they would do. And I think it made them second-guess doing the project at all. That’s a shame. Their story should be told, and they’re too worried about potential political backlash to it.

Which brings me to it: We’re all in it now. We’re all politicos. Even if we don’t want to be.

I like politics. I think policy, and taking aim at big problems with government tools and laws is interesting, and can be effective. Not everything works, but a lot of it does. But I wouldn’t say I have particularly entrenched political positions or opinions. And yet, I, too, am in the thick of it. With all of you.

I think we should simply embrace that there is no dodging or evading political discussion, or avoiding forming our own opinions about what’s happening. We don’t need to broadcast those opinions, of course, but we can’t act like we’re not a part of it.

I think that, in many ways, that’s brought us to where we are. A lot of us are disengaged. We’re busy. Our attention has been picked apart by algorithms and reality TV and Call of Duty and a million other things. I’m no different. And truthfully, I’ve tuned out of the news in recent months, as many of you likely have as well.

But that disengagement, the desire to simply not pay attention and hope that things turn out okay? It hasn’t produced the best results. We shouldn’t expect it to going forward.

That goes for everyone—even if you disagree with me on most things. Odds are, if you’re happy about the way things are currently going, you were unhappy with the way they were going a year ago. You probably tuned things out, to some degree, then. Now, the shoe is on the other foot.

Again, the point? There’s no escaping the political black hole we’re in. We should embrace it, and hopefully, start to find some common ground as much as possible. I don’t know how we get out of the current dynamic, or if we do at all. I think that’s really worth hitting home: We may not fix this. I think we will, as we have many times before, but there are no guarantees.

If we do manage a fix, it’s not going to happen on its own. It’s going to take some serious work. And likely decades, despite what a lot of us might be hoping.

Democracy is fragile. Our country requires routine maintenance. While we may have been able to ignore the “check engine” light for a while, at some point, you gotta pop the hood and figure out how to fix things.

While I promise this isn’t going to be a strictly politically-focused publication going forward, and certainly not a place to air my grievances against the Trump administration—though that’ll be a part of it—what is happening to the federal government simply can’t be brushed off and ignored. These are perilous times, and none of us can afford to pretend it isn’t happening. We’re in the thick of it, and even if you’d rather not think about, talk about, or get engaged with anything political, most of you, dear readers, are Americans, and it’s your country and your responsibility to know what’s going on, and to help guide things along.

As it stands, the Trump administration is performing a sort of legislative blitzkrieg. There have been executive orders, purges, and more. For some reason, Elon Musk has his hands in things and is doing…something. This is part of a strategy, too—hit everyone with everything, all at once, and your opponents are overwhelmed. They can’t focus on anything, get tired, and give up.

I’m tired, I feel deflated. But I don’t think that I, or any of us really have a choice. I recommend reading Notes on the Crises for some specific reporting on what’s happening at the Treasury, which is…bonkers.

Finally, I’m sending this out shortly before the Super Bowl. You may not read it for several days, but I think it’s notable that we used to think of sports as a sort of politics-free safe space. But that was never really the case. I’d also point out that within the past decade, in the NFL specifically, half of the country lost their minds over Colin Kaepernick’s fairly benign protest against police brutality—he would kneel during the national anthem.

As protests go, that was as low-key as it gets. But it did make a lot of people mad, which I suppose was, at some level, the point. People were upset that athletes at the NFL were allowing displays of political speech. They didn’t want to see it on the field, they just wanted to watch football.

Well, today, Trump will be at the Super Bowl. I can only imagine it’s because he can’t handle the fact that something else is getting more attention than he is for a day. He’ll be the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, making it, by definition, political.

I can only assume that there will be similar complaints from the peanut gallery about the politicization of the game regarding that appearance.

As always, send your complaints and insults directly to me at sammbecker@gmail.com.

And remember: Sammy loves you.