Does anyone dislike politics?

I really loathe politics. I just can't stand the lying , the turning people on each other , and the fact nothing ever gets done. Its wasting people's time .

Well, sure, it sucks, but what's the alternative? Anarchy has all the same problems we're currently experiencing, but worse and more besides. An autocracy under a generous man could be good for a generation, but after that point it inevitably goes to shit.

Not being 100% efficient doesn't mean something is a waste of time, and things do get done. Cops and firefighters get paid and equipped, roads are patched (sometimes late), the military inducts new members and trains them, and so forth. It would be nice if it ran smoother, but nobody has figured out how we might accomplish that.

I hate that it divides us. Was it always that way?

AnnaBeth Belle said:

I hate that it divides us. Was it always that way?

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To put it simply: yes.

Different people want different things out of government. The divide will always be there, but decency and compromise are supposed to close that gap. Supposed to.

I imagine most everyone does hate politics.

Unless they are in politics, and thus benefit from it. But even then the stress of that vocation can completely ruin some people physically and mentally, so it's a mixed bag there too.

But it's a necessity. I mean a brief study of any history pre-early 20th century is a pretty good look at how much worse things can be, where politics managed to be somehow even more apathetic toward the people.

Then we need to bring decency and compromise back. I just don't know how because in the US our two parties HATE each other.

I don't passionately loathe it because I've been exposed to it at a very young age. I do hate when it when a political dispute between countries leads to families suffering, but other than that, I see politics as a necessary evil. Democracy is like the least bad system but it still sucks and leads to division and conflict, most of the time.

I remember my roommate used to say politicians fight and lie like kids over silly things. I still laugh every time I remember how passionately she hated politics.

I will say that politics has its place but certainly not in the work place or other areas such as that. I'm not overly fond of all the arguments that occur because of people's differing political views. Sometimes they can get downright nasty and turn an otherwise amiable person into someone entirely different.

I think if an 'otherwise amiable person' reveals distasteful politics, they're likely a distasteful person, in truth.

What do you think works, or you should do, when someone wants to discuss politics but becomes unreasonable about it? Arguing rather than talking and exploring and building understanding?

I have friends of all persuasions. I cannot relate to the way the American elections destroyed friendships and even some families. I guess people aren't that passionate, as a whole, in Europe. Many will agree to disagree/not discuss, especially if there is a friendship to maintain.

The people of the United States of America have a rich tradition of losing their shit over political matters. There's so much about how the general population of the US behaves that isn't dissimilar to how the population acted before it was an actual country. The colonies were essentially formed by outcasts and people that were fed up with Europe. You have to be a pretty passionate person to straight up cross an entire ocean and attempt a life in foreign, uncivilized land. If someone's dissatisfaction with religion and politics can be that strong, how is it surprising that it can cause personal rifts between people? Granted, many people rushed to the Americas to make a fortune, but there's a certain sense of daring adventure there. I wonder if it isn't weaved into the DNA of people to be so worked up an passionate about the things they care about.

It depends on what you mean by that specifically.

Personally, I care about my nation's laws and the state of the nation as a whole. However, political parties are distasteful.

George Washington detested them. Warning about them and never belonging to one himself.

That I believe is where most political divides originate. Through the staunch supporters of parties, rather than individual issues.

Though to quote Alexis de Tocqueville : "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."

Too often people's distaste for politics steams from how we see our 'elected' leaders behave. Being a republican conservative in America, I was quite displeased with how election year has turned so many friends and neighbors against each other. We use political parties to divide ourselves because they consistently propaganda on issues we are emotionally attached to and channel our anger on the oppressed party/people who support the opposed party. I have noticed that politics in America have always been more absorbing than other nations but I believe that's solely based on how America was founded(Mitsu's post). While the digital revolution has made politics more open to the general population, the one thing we have to look towards is that the future generations are clearly learning from the mistakes of the baby-boomer generation. We just have to remember that it's not our brightest and intelligent students that go into politics. It's generally the students who survived education on a 'C' passing grade. We didn't motivate our intelligent students to become leaders, we would tell them to go medical school or engineering school. It's like the scene in Interstellar, when coop is told by the school principal that his son was gonna be a farmer and not allowed to go to college, "The world doesn’t need any more engineers. We didn’t run out of planes and television sets. We ran out of food."

AnnaBeth Belle said:

Then we need to bring decency and compromise back. I just don't know how because in the US our two parties HATE each other.

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Unfortunately, decency and compromise has never existed in America democracy. From the time of Adams, Hamilton, and Jefferson, political parties have been at each other's throats (and Trump's insults paled in comparison to those from back then).

But our system was also designed around that. By having a bicameral legislature, by having a weak executive branch, and by having a third system as a check to the other two, it meant that compromise was necessary to get things done, forcing the irascible parties to work together. Unfortunately, as time has gone on, in the name of bureaucracil efficiencies, we've so greatly increased the power of the executive (especially regarding the power of the purse), that we no longer need compromise on many issues. Hence, elections mean more and compromise is found less and people get angrier.

My two cents.

Leonheart said:

I will say that politics has its place but certainly not in the work place or other areas such as that. I'm not overly fond of all the arguments that occur because of people's differing political views. Sometimes they can get downright nasty and turn an otherwise amiable person into someone entirely different.

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For once you are very right. The Left wing nut jobs protesting violently are sickening. I was shocked by this story about an Anti Trump protester having a heart attack at one of the riots and Trump staff trying to help and getting booed.
https://heatst.com/politics/exclusive-womens-march-protestors-booed-trump-hotel-staffers-who-aided-woman-having-heart-attack/

Not to mention Madogga wanting to blow up the White House.

Absolute filthy creatures.

I was taught there are three things a gentleman does not discuss in company: religion, politics, and a woman's age!

I believe world politics as a whole is just another tool with which to wind people up and cause as much fear, anxiety and chaos as possible, while behind the carefully positioned puppet government heads, those who benefit from our orchestrated confusion and delusion plunder us and the planet with impunity.