Where's the political rage?

So.....those of you who have been real-life or Facebook friends with me longer than a year know that I can get pretty heated over political topics.  Like....downright mad.  In fact, when I created this blog, I made a whole page called "The Mire" for just such rants. Aaaand that page hasn't had an entry in months, almost a year, in fact.

I have found that, for me personally, ranting about politics is akin to holding a burning coal and expecting someone else to get burned (yes, I stole that from Buddha). Politics is a dirty game for dirty men and women, or at least men and women who know how to play the game.

The very idea of democracy involving every single citizen is idealistic but pretty much fails in execution in a massive nation. There will always be the disenfranchised, the unheard voices.  People screaming in CAPS LOCK at each other on some internet forum isn't going to do a thing.  Perhaps my more recent studies of Buddhism and Hinduism have made me more peaceful, also, and less willing to engage in a hostile tete-a-tete with some staunch conservative.  I'm not willing to absorb their negative energy for some pointless debate.

That doesn't mean, however, that I won't go out and protest for the things that are wrong. That never changes.  I protested DADT....it was repealed.  I protested for more rights for military same-sex spouses even after the repeal of DADT, and the DoD has now approved benefits for those families.  The social machine is conducive to change if you are willing to shut your laptop, go outside, grab a protest sign, and get in somebody's face. There is a place for writing and advocating in that sense, but the need for boots on the ground, so to speak, is far greater.  Instead of yelling at someone on a comment thread on Facebook, go find an organization that's working on that particular issue and volunteer. THAT is what truly brings change.