Clinical apathy

It seems like now days you can hardly have a decent conversation with anyone without politics sneaking in and taking over. Personally I don’t remember an election as polarized and charged as this one, but perhaps my brain is just protecting me from a previous bad experience. It’s kind of like how good that old girlfriend begins to look after the restraining order lapses.

But this conversation didn’t really make me mad as much as it scared me. Of course I have my own ideas about the candidates, and while I may not post them on Twitter or Facebook, if you want to discuss them face to face I will be more than happy to engage you. Facebook is the bumper sticker of the new millennium…I didn’t buy in to the real bumper stickers of the old millennium!

What scared me most about this conversation was that it was based on a concept that, try as I may, I just don’t understand. It is the concept of apathy. “I don’t like or trust either candidate so I will vote for neither. I don’t want to give either one of those SOBs my vote. I’m writing in_______ to show the world what I really think”. Sounds like we’re talking about a murder trial!

Like it or not one of these candidates will win. I think you have to learn to treat these elections as if they were a civil trial and not a criminal one. In a criminal trial you decide to convict when you determine guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” as opposed to civil trial where guilt is determined by “a preponderance of the evidence”. If I don’t like every single trait that my spouse or close family members possess, how can I expect to do so with a political candidate? My decision will have to be a weighted one.

We are all very different people is this great big country and I have to admit that there are probably those that genuinely don’t care which party or candidate takes over in November. But I do think this number is lower than you might believe. I truly believe that if most voters, that vow and declare to be possessed with a case of genuine apathy, were to make a list of likes and dislikes; wants and exclusions; beliefs and disbeliefs; they would discover that they could easily chose one over another. But I guess this is harder than doing nothing!

If you complete the list and it turns out that you have viable, documented case of clinical apathy…stay home, I’ll take your parking spot. But if you decide that your list tips the scales in either direction, deciding not to vote is no different than voting for the one you don’t like!