Abandon Hope

Reading blogs today has depressed me. BW Richardson’s post on how the Supreme Court just flushed the Fourth Amendment down the toilet started the spiral into despair. Then Daily Kos hit me with the Democrats’ folding on a withdrawal timetable for Iraq. Neither of these things should have surprised me, but I had allowed myself the luxury of hope. Note to self: there is no hope.

I was at one time an avid fan of the Seattle Mariners, and I attended, watched, or listened to every single inning of every game that I possibly could. My mood vacillated with the team’s fortunes, and I began to feel as if the players were my friends and that, if I just believed hard enough, I could influence games with sheer mind power. To make a long story short, I was losing my mind. It’s the same with politics. I don’t have an iota of influence over anything political. No politician is my friend, and attending to politics does nothing but harsh my mellow.

I still follow baseball, but I no longer care about any of the teams. I never could get attached to the Yankees or Mets. Somehow, baseball is better this way, and I can watch any game with pleasure and enjoy it no matter who is playing or who wins or loses. I’ve got to learn to treat politics the same way.

From now on, I’m going to stay informed so I’ll know best how to protect myself, but I am going to try harder not to give a rat’s ass. Every day that I am not hauled away to a concentration camp or summarily executed is a good day as far as politics go.

I’m not saying that my heart will no longer be broken by evil and cruelty. It is and will be for the foreseeable future, but I am not going to invest any hope that politicians will be other than evil and cruel.