by Chancey Hector
I don’t
understand politics—not at all. Growing up, I was surrounded by
friends and family who always knew who the Secretary of State was, or
how the Senate works, or what a pork barrel is, but none of it rubbed
off on me. Today, not much has changed; I still have no idea what
senators do, I don’t know why the government is split into
branches, and I still can’t tell you what a pork barrel is,
politically speaking. All I can picture is a barrel with a lot of
meat inside, which is of course silly and reveals just how little I
understand the political world. That being said, not knowing much
about politics has not been a detriment to my daily life. I can still
cook, clean, drive, laugh, cry, and shop for knee-high boots without
knowing who Joseph R. Biden is or what Sarah Palin does for a living.
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| Photo Courtesy of the Author |
My father’s eyes
roll whenever we discuss current events. He reads the newspaper every
day to catch a glimpse of the world’s happenings, and he can
probably name the presidents of most countries in the world. He is on
top of his political life. I, on the other hand, cannot keep up with
the news. I have tried, and failed, to educate myself. The only thing
I ever retain from watching Fox News or CNN is the weather report.
Now that’s important information to have when you are planning
picnics at the beach. Understanding Barack Obama’s political stance
on immigration is not so tangibly useful—unless you are in the
process of immigrating, which I am not.
When I think about
it, I realize that perhaps it is thanks to this mysterious government
that I am able to do all those things I like without concerns or
worry. I imagine that thanks to import/export laws I am able to buy
goods made overseas, and thanks to amiable treaties with neighboring
countries I am able to enjoy low gas prices. I would surf on Google
and see if any of my assumptions are correct, but the truth is that I
am too busy to find out. I have a marriage, twin toddlers, rent and
utilities, and a job that drives me nuts. My daily routine leaves me
no time to investigate the political happenings of this country.
Not to be defeated
by the complexity of the government, I turn to my best friend to
gather information. He understands me, and knows that I will only
absorb politics in a very diluted form, free of all the political
jargon that floats around out there in the real world. He knows how
to bullet-point the topics that we discuss, and he knows how to make
it fun to learn—by inserting a lot of hip hop references into his
stories, somehow. He makes light out of the depressing events that
occur out there, outside of my small bubble of existence. He’s my
personal version of The Daily Show.
And thanks to his bite-size approach, I am able to glean a few
important gems here and there, like the definition of filibuster and
the history of Blue Dog Democrats. However, these factoids are soon
replaced with more important information, such as the ingredients I
will need to cook dinner tonight.
Dinner and laundry
are more important to me than who has decided to run for the
presidency next year (elections are next year, right?). My life
cannot function without planned meals and clean clothes. One of my
twins has a complete wardrobe change three times a day. Several times
a week she routinely runs out of clothes to wear, so I have to run
the washing machine twice a week to keep up with her. Sometimes I
leave the news on while I cook or clean the house, but it’s all
white noise to me. I don’t multitask; I can cook or listen to the
news. I am not equipped to do both at the same time. But the beauty
of it all is that I don’t have to multitask. I can focus on life at
home while politicians focus on their life in Congress, or wherever
else they meet and invent laws. I’ll do my job, they’ll do
theirs.
In fact, I feel
that the people out there in Washington are working very hard so that
we don’t have to worry all that much. We have the option to
participate in the elections but it’s not even mandatory! We can
live peacefully and let the old men and women in charge of the
country do what they think is best for all of us. We don’t have to
know their names of even their agenda. We can pretty much coast on
the outskirts of the political world and hope for the best. That’s
all we can do, hope, because politics also have a dark side. There
are corrupt politicians out there who do not have our best interest
at heart: they want money and laws that allow them to keep it all, at
all costs. Depending on who you are talking to, you will get a
different list of corrupt politicians. It depends on what side of the
spectrum you lie—Democrat or Republican, or Other. But so long as
the good ones outnumber the bad ones, we should be pretty safe.
Politics may
govern all aspects of my life, from the price of groceries to the
price of gas, but I don’t know how
it happens. And I will keep not knowing until things go awfully awry:
the day my peeled baby carrots cost me $100.00 I will start paying
very close attention to the confusing machinery that governs our
country. Until then, I will spend my energy raising my children and
being an attentive wife. I will keep coasting on the outskirts of the
political world, and hope for the best.
Chancey is deeply committed to reminding the world that women are seriously
just human. She also loves being French.
