Unpolitic

I think that what stands between me and being politically active, as opposed to being just somewhat politically engaged, is my lack of a sense of outrage. When I made a go of being more political, now two decades ago, I found that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans were a fit for me, because I wasn't angry about the things the party members were angry about. I could understand why they were angry, but I couldn't share their anger. And their anger was most of their motivation for the policies they wanted to see enacted (or, for that matter, repealed).

As much as I tend to consider my politics "Not Republican," I don't see myself as being anti-Republican, in the sense that my policy preferences are driven by opposition to whatever the Republicans happen to be up to. Rather, the two parties have drifted somewhat over the years, and having a somewhat "small-government liberal" mindset, the Republicans are generally (much) farther away from me than the Democrats are. I don't see that as having any moral or ethical valence... it's simply the ways things currently stand. If I'm still around in twenty more years, things could be completely different.

But I understand that not being emotionally attached to politics means that I'm not fired up about the sorts of things that tend to get people fired up. The idea that President Biden and/or Donald Trump are actively plotting against the good of the nation simply isn't top of mind for me.

I've been told, multiple times, that lacking the ability to become outraged over some or another thing that a member of the political class has done is to be actively complicit in whatever, well, outrages, they've perpetrated. To which I shrug my shoulders. I suspect that whatever sense of outrage I may have had is long gone. And given how other people interact with theirs, I don't really want it back.