Citizens Don’t Let Citizens Watch the RNC
Rana and Harrison
are both feeling somehow obliged to pay attention to the Republican National Convention, or barf trying. Nonsense, I say! There are only three good reasons to watch the RNC:
- The Republicans (or protesters) might possibly do or say something that will change your vote.
- The Republicans (or protesters) might possibly do or say something that will inspire you to pull out your checkbook and/or get off your ass for the Democrats - or your favored third-party alternative.
- You relish the thought of blogging, snarking, playing a drinking game, and/or throwing things at the TV.
Yeah, some people feel compelled to give 'em "equal time". I don't know about all y'alls, but I've been giving these assholes better than equal time for four years and I still think they're assholes. At some point, enough becomes more than enough.
To properly honor our civic obligations, then, I propose that the following activities also be given "equal time":
- Learning about the state congressfolk, judges, and county assessors who'll be taking up all that space on the bottom of the Presidential ballot in November;
- Volunteering with the local chapter of your favorite political party or lobby group (if you have to force yourself to watch the RNC so you'll be riled up enough to do this... why not just force yourself to volunteer and save the pain?);
- Chatting with a crazy guy on the street corner (he'll probably appreciate your willingness to listen more than W. will, and his policy towards stem cell research will make just as much sense as W.'s, if not more!);
- Stopping to smell the roses;
- Attending a meeting of the city council, school board, or miscellaneous local government commission;
- Informing your fellow civic persons about what you learned in items 1-5 with a letter to the editor, or in any case something other than a blog entry.
If our civic obligation to absorb the agenda of the governing party overrides our civic obligation to do any of these things, then civil society sucks and I'm moving to a hermitage in the South Atlantic.