I have come unto a crossroads in my life. Being a senior in high school, many hard decisions rack my brain throughout the day. What should I do after high school? College? Work? Mooch off parents? These questions come and go, but one question faces me all the time, and I can’t seem to answer it. That question, of course, is “Should I become a Democrat or Republican?”
Everything I see nowadays reflects on that question, but today I saw something that showed me the truth of it all. I was in my social psychology class, talking with two friends, Leo, a Democrat, and David, a Republican. The two constantly bicker back and forth about political issues and the like, and I typically stay out of it. It’s not that I don’t have a stance on anything, it’s just that their political arguments don’t tend to be constructive in the least bit and usually end in David calling Leo a socialist and Leo calling David a bigot.
Anyhow, the two got into another argument, this time about gay rights. Leo expressed his support of gay rights while David showed his disapproval. The two babbled back and forth, and the argument ended with the typical name-calling. Now, on the subject of gay rights, I tend to lean towards Leo’s point of view. So after the argument, I turned to Leo to give him some more arguments, a.k.a., play devil’s advocate. Before I said anything, he shouted, “I can’t STAND these intolerant people!”
I sat there, staring at Leo, with my mouth shut and my mind trying to grasp what he just said. Inside my head, thousands of little men in a state of confusion and panic shouted at each other in a scene not unlike a hectic afternoon at Wall Street. It sounded something like this: “Did he just say he can’t stand intolerant people?” “I think so.” “So he’s saying he can’t tolerate intolerant people.” “I think that’s what he’s saying.” “Hey, that’s hypocritical!” “It sure is!” “I don’t know. Maybe he meant it in a sense of irony to show fault with intolerant people. You know, satire.” “That doesn’t make any sense.” “You’re right, it doesn’t. He’s just a hypocrite.” “He sure is. Now, back to daydreaming about winning the super bowl.”
Up to that point, I had considered myself neutral when it comes to politics, but still somewhat of a democrat. In fact, I saw myself most likely developing into a democrat in the future. After that ironic comment by Leo, though, I didn’t know anymore. Even now as I write this article, I still have no clue as to my future in politics. The left wing is too hypocritical about the intolerant; the right wing is just too intolerant. The whole thing has just become madness to me.
I think that I’ll stay in the middle for now, making fun of both sides. I’ve always turned to humour in my times of confusion, and I think this is one of those times. So, I’ll leave you with a quote from the great satirist Lewis Black: “What’s the difference between a Republican and a Democrat? A Democrat sucks; a Republican blows.”
Goodnight.