coli from some dirty romaine at Chipotle. Politics creates what Billy Madison would call “society.” Things like minimum wage and 8-hour work days. There are thousands of invisible examples like having roads that enable you to go about your life without having to literally fend for yourself like you’re a hunter/gatherer. Even If Y ou’re Not Political, That Doesn’t Mean There’s No Politics The point is, even if you try to exclude yourself from the narrative, your life is still shaped by the narrative in ways you do and don’t realize. If you did vote, and you love your road, congrats, you own a wonderful pebble of concrete. Regardless, someone elected them, so if your road is sh*tty, you can partly blame yourself for not voting for someone who might have made them less sh*tty. The quality of the roads and who builds them were determined by state and local officials who were elected…but probably not by you personally because you didn’t have time to procure one (1) stamp for your absentee ballot or show up to push a button/pull a lever. Those roads are engineered with public funds aka taxes aka the money you pay the government. Do you drive on roads? Congrats, you’re political. I don’t care if you read the news or know who your representative is.

Lack of participation or interest in politics doesn’t mean that you’re not affected by it. There are many reasons why it annoys me, so in the interest of organization, here’s a list. My fiancé is an evolving “not political person.” I know lots of amazing “not political” people whom I love and care about, but as a “political person”, the phrase has always grated on me. There have been periods of my life when I suppressed my own political-ness (some of the Obama years, when things felt safe in my little bubble of privilege). Politics at a distance feels inscrutable, frustrating, and dull. Before I get into it, let me first say that I understand why people feel this way. Today I’m going to go off on one of my longest standing pet peeves: the phrase “I’m JuSt NoT a PoLiTiCaL pErSoNnNnNn”.

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