Reckless abandon?
Politics has always been a passion for me, at least since a time when I could actually pick up a newspaper and read.
There was some interest early on. JFK captured my attention when first elected - a distinctive voice, from the general area (New England), not to mention witty and amusing. So not otherwise giving a hoot beyond knowing the president was La Grande Fromage of the US, he was simply an idol. The Cuban Missile Crisis, and unfortunately his assassination, all captured my interest, but not on a level one might find in adulthood.
My first real interest in actually following a news story came with the Six Day War in 1967. 12 at the time, there was drama, there was geopolitical consequences, and there was quick resolution to the immediate conflagration.
It has pretty much been this way ever since. Currently I co-host a political debate message board, but something has gone missing. Over the past several months, my involvement there, this in the middle of the most contentious cycle of American politics, has dwindled to a few posts a week. My interest in reading stories, hearing news stories, etc... has been similarly diminished.
Why nelle, you look a bit feverish.
Not really. Came primary season. We are second up after the Iowa caucuses, and my vote was slipped in the scanner almost 4 months ago now. Since then, Hillary & Co, and Barack & Co, have worked to show which one is best able to insult the other. If my reaction to all this remained physical, I'd be rolling my eyes 24 hours a day.
Pssst. H & B... everything I hope for in a leader, and have been frustrated at each turn in seeing come to reality, is being shredded and tossed to the wind. An ideal leader for me? Is there anyone I know who does not know that Barbara Jordan was a political goddess to me? She is your aspiration unsought.
Mix that with my move toward reiki, and it was rather easy to tune it out.
Am I interested? Yes. Am I disappointed? Yes. What is my hope? Can we elect someone posthumously? And more importantly, have we developed the technology to let them serve for 8 years from wherever they are?
Can I take these two illustrious candidates, and can I make them watch video of the Watergate hearings or a speech from the 1976 Democratic convention? One need not say a thing thereafter. Watch Barbara work, and tell me she isn't the most brilliant politician we never had the chance to elect to national office. Since we can't have her, maybe by watching the tape, one of these two will figure it out.
Roll tape. And Hillary, no you can't make paper aeroplanes.
Postscript
When I started writing this, it was with the intent to ponder my own adopted informational indifference to the current state of this election campaign. Is this dangerous, am I simply bending at the waist and inserting my head deep into a cover of sand? Ah, but the flow of words had other ideas, and actually something to say.
48 years of some level of interest fades not abruptly, rather unseeingly slow. .
