Polity

Polity is to politics what economy is to economics. We are all part of both but nobody uses the word polity while economy is thrown into conversations willy-nilly. It says to me that our society puts much more importance on your contribution to the latter than the former. In contrast I have always felt that a civic life is one of the strings in my personal bow that makes my life comprehensive (along with all those other things like working and personal life). However I have also let that string get slack in recent times.

I did over-do the whole party politics things with the Australian Democrats (which I have put behind me). I let it consume too much of me to the detriment of the other strings-of-life. I now have an aversion to too much politics. However I still try to do my bit because this stuff matters. I barely pay attention to current issues and that can be embarrassing. But then I do say in assorted online profiles that I am into political history. It works for me - by the time something is history you can get a fuller picture of the whole thing rather than all the moment-to-moment stuff that overburdens media today.

I get involved in occassional lobbying or activism. I will admit that I have a long Facebook 'flist' partly so that my odd linking to something political gets a wider coverage than it may otherwise get. I will go to a rally sometimes. I am hoping to become a regular attendee at a monthly Amnesty International (AI) letter-writing brunch over a cafe in Clifton Hill. This is all stuff I can manage much more than the old craziness.

And I am happy to impart to others what I understand from both past study and experience. I love the way I have an automated online politics test that informs users of political ideology while I sleep. I'm also happy to vent my frustrations in a creative way with another online project.

I have an imaginary spoof political party called Me First! It started as a way for me to express frustrations at the way things are in a minor political party. It has since gone onto become a more general way of satirizing or just having fun with political issues and concepts. And because it is a joke I can get away with saying all sorts of things. Most of it I admit is ludicrous but sometimes - just sometimes - I do think some of the things I put there. I will let you decide which is which.