Finding a Voice in Politics

TL;DR: I’ve decided to participate in thoughtful political discussion on my site.

I’ve been afraid to post anything political on my site. This is a very personal space, and politics is divisive. Sharing my political views could alienate readers or lead to bad-faith arguments. I’ve also personally been turned off by very loud political discussions. It can be quite unsettling to realize that someone else not only has a different opinion, but that they have a fundamentally different understanding of reality.

I’m not afraid of politics. I’m an active voter and am willing to engage family and friends in political discussions. Still, I’ve seen so many bad examples of political discourse online that it hasn’t felt worth the risk to share my own views online. But I’m becoming increasingly uncomfortable with complete silence.

Across the world, it seems that leaders are becoming more authoritarian. This trend is supported by people who are so dissatisfied with the current political system that they are willing to undermine democratic principles in favor of leaders that take decisive action. I am not an expert in politics but I’m deeply troubled by this shift and see many ways it could go wrong. However, all leaders need some form of political support, and public opinion matters significantly for democratically elected leaders.

That is part of what motivated me to stop by the No Kings protests on June 14th. I want those with political power to see that the public won’t blindly accept abuses of power. There was power and camaraderie in coming together. In a world where my state senator–my official representative to government–is being arrested for asking questions at a press conference, I think it’s important to have peaceful demonstrations.

I also want to acknowledge that I’m in a position where I historically haven’t had to worry about my rights. When politics has been particularly draining, I’ve been able to disconnect with little negative impact on my life. But there are many people who have had to protest because their rights were already under attack. While I can pick and choose my engagement with these issues, others have a lot more to lose.

I hope that by speaking up on what I see are important issues, I might spur someone else to action. I doubt my words will be read by anyone in power, but if I can encourage someone else to interact with politics differently, that could start a chain reaction. I can’t even say that I have anything new to add to the political discourse. But I don’t want to cede the national discussion to the loudest voices. Particularly as someone who identifies as a moderate in this divided political climate, I think it’s important to reiterate that we don’t need to oscillate from one extreme to another. We don’t need to give leaders unchecked power to have political change. We can expect more from our leaders.

While I have many grievances with the government, I don’t plan for politics to become the main topic of discussion on my site. But I am giving myself permission to publicly discuss the topic. I don’t want to purely regurgitate article headlines like the various re-share formats on social media platforms. I’ve been inspired by how Ben Werdmuller usually adds his own commentary that stands on its own, without relying on the article. I really like the format. I hope that my commentary is broader than American politics or one administration and can speak to principles that many people can relate to.

I can totally understand if people do not want to engage with politics. I intend to tag politics posts with the #politics tag. If you consume my content through Mastodon or a feed reader, this may be helpful for setting up filtering rules (though exact configuration options will depend on the platform).

On my own site, I’d also like to set the tone for how to read my politics related posts. I’m adding a disclaimer to politics articles to acknowledge my own fallibility, that there is space for other opinions, and that my own views may change. Rather than waiting until I get things “perfect,” I may publish and later make edits to improve my posts. It should be clear when reading the post if/when significant edits were made. I also reserve the right to remove or disable responses if I consider them harmful. I encourage others to find their own spaces online to share even if I don’t want to amplify their words.

I’m frankly nervous about where this will lead, but I hope I can contribute meaningfully to the way we talk about politics.