This was for my American Politics class lol

What Does Politics Mean to Me?

So, what does politics mean to me? That’s a surprisingly difficult question for me to answer, but by the end of this paper, I’m sure I will have the perfect response. For most kids my age, politics means nothing to them, at least it appears that way. For some strange reason my brain is completely engulfed in politics. Well sort of…. When I say politics, I don’t mean typical CNN headlines or vapid Congressional hearings. When I think of fascinating politics I conjure up an image of Abbie Hoffman decked out in his inverted American Flag tee shirt holding a demonstration or Howard Zinn giving a lecture to an audience of intrigued students. I often hear the term, “political junkie.” I suppose I’m more of a “subversive junkie.”
Every day the aforementioned subversive politics enters my psyche one way or another. While other teens chat about fantasy baseball teams, my comrades and I propose our fantasy political systems. One of my amigos desires a classic free market, laissez-faire, libertarian society. Another friend terrifyingly insists fascism is the path of sound politics. I personally find anarchism to be the most appealing (and most misunderstood) political philosophy. Although, I initially favored socialism. Anyway, I also co-run a blog that often features strong social/political commentary of the radical persuasion. I read dozens of dissident books, essays, and articles over the year. Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent and Jerry Rubin’s Do iT! can be found on my bookshelf, just to name a few. My friends and family make every effort to eschew engaging in debates with me because they know how much I love political bull sessions. Like most folks, I love You Tubing ridiculously funny videos, but most of the time I use this enormous resource to discover alternative forms of media, which are anonymous in the mainstream, to inform myself on how the system truly works. I do however maintain an open mind and always question anything and everything I hear, conventional or unconventional.
Being of the leftist political affiliation, I have just a tad bit of cynicism for our system. I see America as two entities: the people and the government. In an ideal society these two are one and therefore no one has to obey orders from illegitimate authority. As denizens of this great country it is our duty today to push for this kind of government for tomorrow. Since, few politicians share this view of our nation, I don’t trust 99% of them. I believe they are merely corporate stooges in the Evil Empire. With that being said, there are a select few here and there that I like and/or endorse. These include Ralph Nader (above all), Cynthia McKinney, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, and Ron Paul, whom actually has a completely different ideology than myself, but I greatly admire for maintaining integrity in an arena where such a word is foreign. I side with him on ending the Military Industrial Complex, prohibition (the War on Drugs), the Patriot Act/FISA legislation, and the Federal Reserve.
So, to answer the title question: what does politics mean to me? I suppose it means a system in which some people win and some people lose. A system where the people in power are only concerned with their own interests and maintaining that power. But, based on my influences, there is a solid dose of resistance against this system that can never be curtailed.

Chris