The Various Voters

I'm getting this impression that quite a few people in our country just believe politics is one big scam now. It's just some way some idiots in suits get people to give them money. There is a lot of emotion, a lot of accusations, and a lot of fighting back and forth. At the end of the day though, very little changes, no one is happy, and things just move on as usual.

Right now, you can divide Americans into several camps. First, you have your Political Believers. These are both typical hardcore Dems and Repubs. You know, the ones who write all the annoying crap on Facebook.  These people probably actively get involved in campaigns. They know politicians personally. They send the money. They write them emails.  They tend to snidely look down on everyone who doesn't take politics seriously. They also don't get why everyone on Facebook is blocking them until after the election.

Then you have The Disenchanted. These people may have, at one time or another, actually believed the system works. They used to be politically active and did all the things those who are still politically active do. Then . . . one day they woke up and realized it was all bullshit. They understood they'd wasted a lot of time, money, and effort and gotten just about nothing in return. Now they view all politics with mistrust and disdain. They were the first ones to defriend the Believers.

We always had the camp of the Bemused, but in the advent of the internet, this group is growing in leaps and bounds. The Bemused view politics as one big joke. They make memes about candidates and watch debates for moments that will make for great funny comments. They draw cartoons of anyone running. They make up songs, do song parodies, and tweet glib quotes. This group has moved beyond being Disenchanted and now use humor as a coping mechanism to handle how fucked up the system is. They don't see anything worthwhile in either party, and therefore choose to look at the whole thing as a joke . . . and hope it's a harmless one.

Finally, we have the Casuals. These people fall somewhat into all three of the previous groups.  In some ways, they are just bemused by the politics going on around them. In other ways, they are both disenchanted but also believers in other aspects of it. At the same time, they participate very little. They will still go and vote, but they won't try to influence anyone else to vote one way or the other. They will be annoyed when others try to influence them.  They will insist that politics not be discussed around them, as it tends to stir up hard feelings on both sides.

When some people think about this coming election, they get very emotional and hope that things go their way. Other people just smirk at the idea of who will end up getting the plum role as the president on Saturday Night Live.  Some people are  just hoping they get through the political season with all of their friends still talking to each other. Some people are just rolling their eyes and muttering about how they want this whole damned thing to be over with because it's stupid and useless and changes nothing.

Hmm, they might also be ready for people to stop writing political blog posts.