Billy Bragg — Back to Basics

2 × Vinyl, LP, Compilation, 1987

Politics is important and I know, I know, I know. But most of the time we’re not out there looking for a new world — we’re just looking to make our part of it better.

And so the political season weighs on me. I try to steer clear for the first few months — those months where one side fights and argues and the other side does the same but in a different shirt — because there is little I can do from where I stand.

In South Dakota, we get the primaries late. Things are already decided. And so I have two choices: I can pull my hair out worrying about the process, or I can hold tight. Wait for it, wait for it.

I quit Facebook because I couldn’t even. The absence of the constant argument was a moment of clarity. This is my first presidential election without Facebook, and it’s been more than clarity. It’s been bliss.

That’s fine. I will get involved when I’m ready. I will support my candidate, and I will push against the opposition. And I will do that without the weight of the primaries, without the rhetoric of the parties, without the stink of the precluding battle.

I’ll be ready to talk politics. I’m not looking for a new America. I’m looking for the right woman who can lead.