Yeah, That Election Thing…

It’s really easy to be cynical.  It’s very easy to be negative, to point out everything that’s wrong in the world, and then to add a healthy splash of self-depreciation to avoid the dreaded label of hypocrite.  Composing witty remarks of sarcastic critique comes naturally, and does ordering another beer.  It’s a great defense mechanism.  Not only is it a personal insulation, it’s commonly considered smart, some mark of a worldly sophisticated intelligence that must masquerade as a breed of suped-up, throw back working class.  It’s widely considered the identity of our generation, the attitude of our time, when it’s hip for the hipsters to deny their hipness by critiquing other hipsters who don’t use the word hip, and we line up in art galleries to worship at the alter of irony, then declare the next morning that we didn’t notice.  It’s really easy to say that politics sucks and the presidency doesn’t mean much anyway.

It’s uncool to be hopeful.  Hope is twee, and not in a good way- that impossible-to-explain double helix of reverse/reverse cool doesn’t apply here.  The word itself is trite, smacking of a doe-eyed innocence that doesn’t match one’s shirt… not that matching is where it’s at either. Maybe that’s why Barack Obama used the word audacity in conjunction with it.

But that’s not how I feel at all.

To paraphrase Peter Lunenfeld in his book Snap to Grid, irony becomes boring after the first ten minutes.  And although I apparently have a high threshold and can probably hang in there with it for at least a half an hour, I don’t think it’s going to cut it for a lifetime, or prove worthy of an entire generation.

I don’t talk about politics really.   I’m quiet, I talk about other things,  I’ve taken up knitting, so that gives me an excuse at the bar… I haven’t really been paying much attention these past few years.  I haven’t voted much, and haven’t been watching the news much.   People yell at me a lot for not voting, for supposedly not taken an interest, for not taking advantage of my very important right to be a part of the democracy in my country.  But it isn’t that I don’t care.  Sometimes I haven’t voted because I haven’t felt that I took the time to educate myself enough about the situation and the candidates to match a responsible choice in good conscious.  Often, it’s because I didn’t understand or agree with any of the candidates.  I didn’t feel good about any of the choices, so I didn’t choose at all.  I’ve never felt comfortable choosing Democrat or Republican, and while I’ve been told that I’m fiscally conservative and socially liberal, that’s a gross oversimplification.  I’ve never felt inclined to support a major independent candidate either.  I smile and wave at the anarchists.   I identify with a lot of Libertarian ideas, but none of them agree on anything anyway.   I’m not really down with socialism, but I understand our economic system isn’t purely capitalistic, we have a mixed economy.  Is anyone actually accused of being a Communist these days?  Apparently, a lot of people my age feel the same.

I began attempting to follow things a bit this past year with the idea that I’m going to be 27 years old for heaven’s sake, it’s about time to start paying attention like a proper adult.  (Ha!)  So I’ve been paying attention.  I’ve listened to the nearly all of the speeches given at the DNC this year.  It would be really easy for me to say that this election is about media, marketing, flash and celebrity, with little substance and still less practical promise for America’s future.  It would be pseudo smart to say that speeches are just words blown out like soap bubbles, which burst then melt away when confronted by solid obstacle.  It would be a save to mock something, anything.  (Ok, ok, let’s be honest.  I did make a little fun of the NPR reporter’s fascinated coverage of the lighting and confetti.  Fine.)

But that’s not how I feel at all.  I teared up a lot, actually.

The historical signifigance of this election has certainly dawned on me.  An NPR commentator expressed surprise that Obama’s acceptance speech didn’t really address race.  Well, I can see that Obama is a black man, and I can see that he has been nominated by the democratic party to be the next President of the United States of America, so I don’t think he really needed to discuss race at this point.  Over and over, especially in reference to the anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, people have been quoted saying they never thought they’d see this day in their lifetimes.  I agree, but have a different take.  Despite my deep feelings of uncool hopefulness about the future at large, of high expectations for my generation, of enthusiasm for technology, of excitement at the great, wide, crazy, interesting, chaotic world, I didn’t really believe that I’d see in my lifetime a candidate- be he or she neon purple for all I care- who would say things that I actually relate to and agree with.  I didn’t believe I’d hear a politician speak in the same language that I do, yet resonate with intelligence, power, and dare I say it, common sense.  I didn’t believe I’d feel positive about voting in a presidential election.  But I do.  And whether or not Obama can successfully bring about the things he speaks of, for me personally, it’s a step in the right direction.