Yurii Rashkovskii: Politics 2.0 and Why You Shouldn't Care Anyway

Warning: you should not really read this. I am completely incompetent in things I am talking about below.

Political parties are no fun. Leaving aside a lot of aspects (probably, both positive and negative), one of most important factors for me is that any party is likely to have some set of ideological "beliefs". Say, "restricted abortions, free market, no gay marriage" or "renewable energy investments, progressive tax, affordable healthcare". What really puzzles me is the necessity to choose either one. What a nonsense! I'd rather vote for particular beliefs rather than the whole platforms!

That does not mean parties should not exist. They probably should, after all they are just a product of the society. Though in order to let voters make more deliberate decisions, they shouldn't be able to vote "Party A or Party B", but they rather should vote for or against every current belief promoted by either party.

Something like...

(Yes/No/Have no idea) Restrict abortions
(Yes/No/Have no idea) Invest in renewable energy
(Yes/No/Have no idea) Free market
(Yes/No/Have no idea) No gay marriage
...

certainly, without traces to either party. And then we can count popularity of each belief and basing on these numbers there is a chance to build a balanced government consisting of both parties. But it is a kind of utopia, I know. Just a technological view on a way more complex social thing. So do not expect it anytime soon.

I observe an enormous number of people who believe that they should care about these particular elections this Fall. This is the second time I actually see such a high level of civil activism (first time it was in Ukraine 2004).

And you may also strongly believe that it is a Right Thing to act this way, and you even maybelieve that it is your genuine conviction. Whatever. It isn't really important.

Lets look at the problem this way: one of the most important things for mere mortals is the economy of their country. A number of countries are experiencing a recession (or should we call it panic? depression?) these days. But hey! Isn't economy supposed to be a boom-bust wave? The length of each sector might be quite long (sometimes decades), I guess. But after all, after each bust boom will come, and having either president or party ruling the country will not impact this huge wave significantly — these party-a to party-b waves are just too short and have a low amplitude to be able to. And yes, there are always exceptions about rules, and that means that there is a small chance to have a higher amplitude presidential wave accidentally.

So should you care? You can't really affect the bigger boom-bust economy wave, and you can't really increase odds of "exception miracle". But you can wait...

...and care about tangible things: your family and your community — your close-knit circles. Real politics begin at your front door and your efforts could actually change something.

Please re-read the disclaimer at the beginning of this rant.

P.S. Sorry for no blogging for more than two months. I am guilty without any doubts.

P.P.S. I am not even closely eligible to participate in these elections, and don't plan to become eligible anytime soon; this rant is just a consequence of two beers & 1,5 hrs talk on this & other topics with someone in a bar's patio.