With election day upon us, I offer the following reminder.
There are two extremes to be avoided concerning one’s political attitude. The first extreme (one of excess) is to think politics — and often politicians themselves — can provide the solution (or scapegoat) to anything. That extreme seems more common to me on the left. The second extreme (one of deficiency) is to put off politics completely, paying little to no attention to the consequences of it. That extreme seems more common to me on the right.
Aristotle teaches us that virtue is the golden mean, hanging between the viciousness of excess and deficiency. Courage is the stock example, which resides between the foolish act of recklessness and the clear defect of cowardice. Mutatis Mutandis, putting too much stock into politics/politicians commits the angelistic fallacy, as Mortimer Adler had it, and fails to see the world for what it is: inherently fallen. It also ignores the supernatural order, which causes irrational unease when certain candidates are elected or not elected. Both of these are errors of judgment and both are counter to human flourishing. On the other hand, putting too little stock into politics/politicians is failing to participate in your human nature as a social and political animal. Politics are human affairs and to ignore human affairs is to ignore your humanity. It is in some respect selfish and certainly it is imprudent. While ignorance may be subjective bliss for some, it is a far cry from objective flourishing.
Of course, none of this is what people want to hear on election day. With tensions as they are, people seem to have little if any desire to express loving-kindness to their political opponents: many are simply waiting for the opportunity to storm Twitter and rub it in. But it is often those things we don’t want to hear, that are just the things we need to hear.