Once I was a fervent follower of American politics, specifically federal. Watching C-SPAN for me was like my peers enjoying Family Guy. I keenly read Huffington, DailyKos and whatnot blogs on American politics. I mull for hours on my free copy of the Chicago Tribune and New York Times over lunch and dinner. I downloaded podcasts to listen while walking to class and on the subway to-and-fro Chicagoland. My BitComet was always showing 50-100k/b download rates as I await the completion of DivX conspiracy theories, presidential debate recordings and Michael Moore documentaries off the p2p file-sharing network. Twice have I attended major political rallies, one was federal the other, state. I was even a volunteer for that state-wide immigration drive rally. Never did I miss political speeches on campus. I could easily have handshaked Rod Blagojevich and Ralph Nader if I had wanted to.
But I ditched partisan American politics just as I dropped my loyalty to certain football clubs. Sure, I’m opinionated about presidential candidates, foreign policy, healthcare reform and stem cell research. And likewise I am adamant that Arsenal and Celtic are the two most exciting football clubs in Britain, and that the New England Patriots will go 16-0 this year while the Miami Dolphins end up 0-16. But really, this is all purely from one’s egoistic dispensation for partisanship and the need for a sense of belonging.
No wonder political scientists have yet to explain the irrationality of voting behavior. And thus I realize I was chasing the phenomena, not the noumena. Honestly, we shouldn’t seek no belonging other than allegiance to the ultimate Reality.