Been following politics my whole adult life, like all of you I assume. Reading & watching so much info...countless hours I've dedicated to learning about how the world works and how to make it better.
I look back at it all & if I'm honest I've accomplished very little from it. That probably goes for most of us here. I get a vote every few years, but one vote among millions, & my super-informed vote can be completely neutralized if some uninformed dumb-wit casts a vote for the candidate I don't want to win. Besides voting, I really don't think all this time I've invested has resulted in very much. Unless you're an activist actively changing things out there, or a politician, or have lots of money & power etc, just sitting around reading and arguing on message boards makes me smarter but doesn't improve my life really whatsoever. With politics, you either go big or go home.
When I was a kid, I didn't give a crap about politics. Life was great, politicians got elected, progress & change happened that I had nothing to do with. I just sat around playing with my toys, watching cartoons, joking with friends, chasing girls etc. Life was a blast! The burden of politics is heavy, to stay informed takes time, and the news is so very often depressing, & I've become pretty cynical of the world by looking at the most nasty parts of it for so long. Complaining about Dubya Bush for 8 years did virtually nothing, and complaining about Trump probably won't do anything either so I rarely take part in it, I usually just shake my head & move on & let the rest of twitter-verse waste their time outraged.
My time on this earth is precious. With all this time spent on politics I could be doing something far more useful: study up more on investing & make myself richer, take night classes to get ahead in my career, exercise more, volunteer to make someone's life ACTUALLY better etc. The amazingness of life is happening out there for me to enjoy more fully, and all this depressing nonsense we argue over doesn't mean much of
**** if it doesn't lead to action.
This world around us is
**** up, but when I look at the happiest people I've known they haven't dwelled on the bad, they've carved themselves out a good little life in an average sized home & a decent job & surrounded themselves with people they like and love, & dwelled on the good things in life, instead of staring at screens all day yelling at the internet. It's really that simple I think.
"Your focus determines your reality." - Qui-Gon Jinn