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By Bella Beilman
Dear American Politicians,
Our generation is sick and tired of what you all have twisted into what is known today as politics. We are sick and tired of the politics that have been played for thousands of years.
The real definition of politics is:
“The activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power/the activities of governments concerning the political relations between countries.” —Oxford English Dictionary
So why is politics thought of as:
“The art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies” —Urban Dictionary
The capital of our country is a place where differences of opinion (often strongly held) are debated (often vigorously) before being resolved by a vote. Somebody wins. Somebody loses. The majority rules. The minority vows to fight another day. And fight they do, using debating skills, press releases, and parliamentary tactics instead of guns, knives, and military maneuvers.
It was to stifle verbal abuse (including slander) and physical violence (including swordplay) that our country’s Founding Fathers designed formal political protocols to contain and re-channel hostility and rage.
But today, you have failed our Founding Fathers. Slander, hostility, and rage are so rampant that they seep into every crevice of our lives.
My generation still has not been alive during a time of peace for America; we know only war. My generation has had our childhoods ripped away from us by technology and expectations only to realize we will never know the bliss of ignorance once again. We had silly middle school tormentors follow us home through a piece of seemingly shrinking metal and glass our parents got us so we could be ‘safe’ alone. We have the news plastered not only across our papers and screens but across our wrists too. We have been forced into a home where the plant that helps us breathe is being destroyed for profit, where animals are treated as objects and not living things, and where our elders accept and even helped to cause this destruction.
Thank you for nothing.
Bella Beilman, of Louisville, Ky., is a member of the McConnell Scholar Class of 2022. She studies economics, political science and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Louisville.