When I tell people one of my majors is political science, they look at me and ask, “Why would you want to learn about that?” This certifies my belief that politics is regarded as dirty, bland and controversial. This is precisely the problem — our culture approaches politics the wrong way.

The paradigm of our society focuses on the product rather than the process. This view is skewed. We should allot more attention to the process.

Life is often times about closing the gap between how things are and how they could be. This concept is what makes the journey so important. Our new paradigm on politics has us realize that governing is about the process.

As a whole, people often get offended if a person disagrees with them. We have yet to accept the fact that opposition is part of the process.

Despite all the quarrelling that takes place, we must not question someone’s integrity or their intentions. If a person has a different way of educating our children, it does not mean he or she is ignorant. It simply means that person wishes to resolve the strains of the current situation differently.

There are often times many solutions to a problem. We must keep this in mind when bickering does occur.

If we do not have disputes, it means that the minority has been silenced. Essentially we would live in a one party state or as some people have called it, tyranny of the majority.

Reveling in these disagreements is important for us; we get reassurance our democracy is healthy.

This is why the progression is more important than the outcome. If we go about something the wrong way, the aftermath will not necessarily stand the test of time. Results that are a collaboration of ideas from all different parties involved have a much higher success rate because everyone has come to a general consensus.

What makes democracy so great is that everyone is allowed to participate. We seem to have largely forgotten that a democracy requires an active and educated citizenry. All of this is not our fault. The way our society portrays politics can cause tension between people.

When a topic is accompanied with discomfort, it is seldom brought up. As a by-product, people become content in their own ignorance.

It is counterintuitive to regard politics as taboo. If this topic gets swept under the mat like dust, we will never progress as a society. No new ideas will come forward and as a result, nothing will change.

The space between what life is and what it could be will remain gaping. None of us want this. For this reason alone, we must adopt a new ideal of politics — one that is focused on the journey rather than the end result.

Andrew can be reached at
andrew.hedlund@asu.edu