It could all be so simple...

Politics As Unusual

I hate being pigeonholed as "just a girl" or as a typical female when I talk about my obsession with makeup and interest in George Clooney; or as an anomaly when I say that I want to make my own money and my own career before I get married. I get disgusted with pro-life men or women who try to tell me that controlling my internal organs and bodily reactions violate the laws of a religion I don't even believe in or follow. I get depressed just thinking of the war in Iraq: how many Iraqi civilians and American soldiers are dying, how many soldiers come back to a country that doesn't provide veteran's benefits, how the president misled the public and has failed to provide an adequate reason for the invasion, and how our constitutional rights are suppressed in the name of "freedom."

However, I hate people who argue that voting isn't worth it and take a fatalist view toward activism. President Bush's approval rating has reached an ultimate low, but there are still a ton of people who aren't taking any action against him. These are people who apparently are blissfully ignorant or intellectually lazy. It's easier to blame the leaders than to take action. It's also easier to throw up your hands in defeat than to look for alternatives.

Of course, activists aren't average people. A lot of people look at me with confused expressions when I tell them that I believe in total drug decriminalization and abortion without restrictions. It gets worse when I emit that I voluntarily give up my Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to give out clean hypodermic needles to drug addicts, and that I belong to a Planned Parenthood group that voluntarily canvasses or calls pro-choice supporters at least five times a month.

Complacency and laziness never solved anything. Staging a revolution requires the existence of revolutionaries who are willing to work without a paycheck for a common cause. The students at UC Berkeley weren't paid for their protests during the Vietnam War. Cesar Chavez didn't assist in the formation of the UFW because he was paid for it. True activists see that something was wrong with the system, and they work to change it. I hope to be one someday. More importantly, I hope my fellow citizens do too.