Besides the dictionary definition, the word politics means different things.
When we say something is political we often speak of:
- Systems of governance
- What “they” do in Washington
- “Hot button issues”
- Creating controversy
- Negotiating for justice
- The work of the polis (the people)
- How we organize ourselves
- Partisanship
- Partnership
- Community
- Organizing
- Opinion
- Debate/Argument
- Bias
- Concern
- Hope
- Betterment of society
- Being challenged
- Anything that makes me feel bad.
Words, like our politics, do change over time. They twist with the times and fold to reflect our new ways of being.
But sometimes words take on so many different characteristics that they become something bigger. Perhaps even scary. Something we teach our children not to talk about.
What I find is that problems with “political talk” never originate directly from a sense of their scope. We aren’t afraid that these are just too big to talk about. They come instead when we define the word narrowly. When we say “political” when we really mean partisan. Or speak only of public officials or bills debated on the Senate floor.
In other words, we are afraid of our political difference. But that move to narrow the word is dangerous.
It is all too easy to see any one of these aspects of the word political as a synonym. And it’s all too easy to misunderstand someone who keeps the word big and full of all of these definitions. All too often our disagreements are really a misunderstanding.
So I get where all of these meanings come from. And I’m more or less OK with all of them. Especially in the way that they inform each other. None of them actually bother me. Except that last one.
Negotiating life in public necessarily involves being challenged. Being made uncomfortable is essential to growth. However, defining politics as a pain to be avoided or defining something as too political when it makes you feel bad is like avoiding food because you have a toothache.
The problem isn’t politics.