Sunday, February 28, 2016

Politics As A Narcotic

This morning, I got my coffee, wandered over to my computer, plopped down in the chair and clicked and read. As I walked, I thought about how I was looking forward to seeing what was new and realized that nothing was going to be new, particularly on the political sites that I can't seem to quit.

Doesn't that make politics a narcotic? Isn't it the same high over and over again? When was the last time you read something that surprised you or changed your perspective? I realized that my Politics list on Twitter was going to yield only slight variations on what it had given me yesterday, last week, last month and on off into the past.

I've had this thought before, but to be honest, I'm finding most everything else boring. Yes, I could learn Python, I could groom some of my PHP code and learn how to write tighter MySQL queries, but why? There's not much of an endorphin rush to those compared to reading a particularly clever take down of Donald Trump by Jonah Goldberg.

It's all empty calories and like a fat man who cheats on his diet, I'm burning an irreplaceable resource, time, on the repetitive pleasures of politics.

As I understand it, the best way to break an addiction is to replace it with something (more?) enjoyable. Unfortunately, indulging in polemics is like eating oreos or potato chips. It's incredibly easy to do and very easy to do. While the payoff of coding in the morning might be higher than politics, the cost is higher as well. Further, the payoff for the coding comes tomorrow whereas the pleasure of reading Instapundit is today.



OK, OK. I'll go do something productive. Right after I watch this blistering attack on Trump by Marco Rubio.

4 comments:

Ilíon said...

I'm all for blistering attacks on Trump. However, if it's coming from those who despise the Constitution -- whether Clinton, Sanders, Rubio or Cruz -- why bother?

K T Cat said...

I'm a Cruz man, myself. I think he's the only one that would be a real reformer. Rubio is my second choice, but I acknowledge he's the establishment candidate and wouldn't rock the boat. The others are certifiably insane.

Ilíon said...

"I'm a Cruz man, myself. I think he's the only one that would be a real reformer."

I think you may right. After all, look at how much reform we've had with the current Constitutional dishonorer-in-chief.

Ilíon said...

Look, Cruz is not a natural born US citizen. With respect to electing him president, knowing that the Constitution forbids him to hold the office is all one needs to know.

Whether or not he would be a good president absent that disqualification doesn't matter in the least.

However, that he seeks to office -- and that he does so knowing that he is disqualified -- *ought* to tell you that whatever "reforms" he might initiate will probably not be good.

Just as one cannot achieve justice by unjust means, so one cannot restore Constitutional governance by unConstitutional means.