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Read Why Politics Matter in the latest issue of Shift magazine. Despite the fact I read so much media I rarely find articles or whole magazines that seem to be writing to me, not so much in a personal way (i.e. is my head big sort of way) but rather in a ‘yeah I’m thinking about that too’ sort of way. The sameness of our news (and I do read a paper or two everyday) doesn’t escape me and the Canadian messages inside Shift now seem so rare in the media that I’m surprised when I see them. Actually kind of stunned.

I’ve had passion for why society does something and how it does it my whole life. If that’s politics then I’ve had a passion for politics my whole life. Hell I’ve even sort of done politics, at University and in political parties. Pretty heavy stuff at the time. In fact its because I think I actually know the coded language of politics the article mentions that it seems to resonate with me.

Now for years, I have detached from any formal political involvement and instead I have become an opinionated, loudmouth, observer. Angry that people don’t see things my way, frustrated that so much dialogue seems so uniformed, embarassed at our [Canada’s] incapacity to evolve our institutions, and frankly tired from starting my own business.

I know you can change things, so why don’t I? Why do so few from my generation embrace this challenge, in a serious ‘contender’ sort of way? I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that I do love what I’m doing now, but I think the bigger answer is so much harder to articulate. I no longer feel any urge to get politically active again. It is a loathsome word and although I may have hidden in business to escape it I now revel in the chance to risk, to succeed and most importantly - to fail - that private enterprise affords. I know also that many who want our own democracies to improve seem incapable of engaging those in power with anything more than protests, puppet shows and the truly loathsome ‘yelling’. That form of dialogue offers no real hope for change, and no real reason to participate.

Ugh, so much to say on this topic, but no time to write it all. Read the article; there is another way to do this, not left, not right, not by political parties or marches. There’s no answers in the article, but the author is right, time to move beyond sarcasm, indifference or apathy. Flying around the earth twice last year reminded me that our accomplishments as a country are proof that we’re doing [or did] so many things right here, and we’re ignoring a huge chance to acknowledge our tradition. We’re ignoring a huge chance to get off our asses and change our country so that it listens and responds to its citizens in real time. I wonder if I’ll actually do anything about it?

“If you’re at all like me, you don’t like the word politics, don’t even like to say it except as an insult. You don’t like it because its very mention conjures up the spectre of a dozen counter-arguments, a hundred qualifications, a thousand compromises. You shy away from it because you know it’s shorthand for the self-interested pursuit of power, masquerading grotesquely as the public good. It’s a pack of thieves, a den of lies, a thing characterized by jingoism and posturing and spin. But most of all, if you’re like me, you don’t like politics because it’s become this rarefied, insular world unto itself, totally divorced from the people it pretends to serve. It has no relevance to your life, or else when it does it’s either entirely negative (taxes, program cuts, tuition hikes) or an exercise in futility. You choose the least appalling candidate on a ballot, or you lend support to an innovative idea only to see it ground away into the status quo or sold out to business interests with deep pockets. Most of the time, though, it’s flat-out absurd how little it seems to matter to you. Often as not, it’s about as welcoming as an academic science journal — a boring conversation in coded language about obscure subjects that mean nothing to you.”