I don’t often make political posts. I don’t often read political blogs apart from ones focused on local and state politics. But I’ve realized that my entire online experience is subtly contextualized by the Bush administration. It is impossible to go to my old online haunts and not find self-identified Democrats outraged at whatever is Bush’s fault today or self-identified Republicans acting all smarmy because they’ve got clout. Perhaps this is the way it has always been and my growing poltical self-awareness is still too inexperienced to create correct correlations. There is little to be proud of in anything I see from Democrats or Republicans, too much infighting, intractability, insults, unwillingness to listen to opposing views, people horning in with their own agendas, insults and insults. I can’t even get away from it with my own family. So when they ask if I’m a Democrat or Republican, I can’t really answer them. They take their identifications so seriously that I’d hurt their feelings if I told them that I think both parties are utterly pathetic. I am thankful for the few political people I know who will engage in discussion [not necessarily debate] over differences of opinion and help me get a decent grasp of whatever issue we’re discussing. I sometimes wish everyone that is not them would shut up though.