I'm thinking of Thanksgiving, and the uncomfortable tabletop political fight it inevitability provides with extended family, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, there are two things I'm grateful for:
Having family that isn't entirely on the same side of politics on all the issues, given how boring that would be and
The ability to talk with them about stuff we disagree on without hating one another or getting angry
It must suck to have so little love for your family or yourself that you would let politics ruin your relationships. I feel bad for anyone in that circumstance, and hope you learn to grow from that place and reconcile... Even when you know they're wrong.
I know that universal voting is often considered some kind of civic virtue by the well intentioned... but we should not be encouraging the uninformed to participate in politics.
Like... If there's a federal election and you don't know what the national debt currently is, the difference between fiscal and monetary policy, how basic programs like social security function in reality, what the internal politics are of the countries you wanna bomb... If there's a school board election and you don't know anything about your kids' curriculum... If you need the cheat sheet of who has an "R" or "D" by their name because you don't know anything about the actual candidate... Maybe just sit it out and go about your life? Ain't no shame in that and you'll probably be happier ignoring it all anyway.
Not saying to not vote.
I'm saying that if you're going to, be an informed voter.
