Understanding politics. Oh ?

Disclaimer : This post may seem offensive to some. Should you read until the end, you may e-mail me or comment with whatever you like, but remember I'm not out to attack anyone in particular.

(TL;DR at the end)

I think the only way I'll ever know which way to vote would be if I was either a politician's personal friend OR if I worked with them closely. When I read articles about politics or screencaps with captions and stuff, no matter where they are, people seem to think all politicians are out to get them. The thing is, I don't think that is true at all.

Now, don't ask me which side I'm on, because I'm just in my armchair. And I'm not even kidding : I have no idea as to where I am politically, because while I may have an opinion on major issues (ask me about any) , you'd have to ask me the questions to determine where I fall on the political spectrum.

It's not even that I am not interested. I am interested in politics the same way I am interested in religion : there are cultural aspects to it that are essential to the understanding of how some people and countries work.

I don't care if you have a political opinion, after all you're free to have one. Just don't shove it down my throat and we'll be fine :) . I'd rather talk about the issues at large than the politics themselves anyway.




But there is something else I have noticed. There are people out there who really are selfish greedy people. Now, I'm not talking about the mom having difficulty feeding her children every month, or the guy whose electricity just got shut off, or something like that.

I'm talking about the ones who can afford many things and, when asked about sharing more, will look at you as if you had just killed a puppy. I will be honest with you here : I earn about 1700 US Dollars a month. That wouldn't be enough to have an apartment on my own where I live, but I live with my partner in a nice place in France and with that money, I can live quite comfortably.

Now. Let's say one day I get to work and go up to a moment where I earn, say, up to 5000 US Dollars a month. Will I be happy ? Yes. Will I start saving ? Hell yes.

Will I be happy if one day my goverment tells me that woops I will only earn 3000 US Dollars a month now because I have to pay more taxes to help the country ? To be honest, I would be happy with the caveat that it would be a real help to the whole country, not just some priviledged classes.

If you tell me that giving up on my salary will create better working conditions for workers (firefighters, policemen, doctors, nurses, garbage men, waitresses, everyone) will make things better.

If you tell me that giving up on my salary will create shelters for homeless people, will help medical research, will help education, then hell yes I will give it up without a fight.

However, don't count on me to feel sorry for "rich" people who always need more more more. One should get rewarded for their efforts indeed, and even Hollywood super-rich stars deserve money for their hard work and for the fact that they make others earn a lot. My question is : why should you ALWAYS spend more more more more more on things ?

Not everyone needs to be in the same place at the same time, but to cry cause you won't get your second vacation or can't renovate your perfectly adequate kitchen (horrors! It's blue! I want red! AAAH!) is completely selfish. With that in mind, why would anyone try to be nicer to you when your time of need comes ?

Just because you get nice things does NOT make you a bad person. Rich people having expensive cars, clothes, jewellery and going to rich people resorts don't make me twitch. But not being able to spend 500$ on extras is not a tragedy, it's just life and things happen.

TL;DR : I don't understand politics and probably never will. And I hate selfish greedy people.