{"id":13297,"date":"2019-09-17T10:26:09","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T14:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/?p=13297"},"modified":"2019-09-17T10:26:12","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T14:26:12","slug":"when-politics-smothers-everyday-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/when-politics-smothers-everyday-life\/","title":{"rendered":"When Politics Smothers Everyday Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Screenshot_2019-09-17-When-Politics-Smothers-Everyday-Life-RealClearPolitics1-1024x599.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Screenshot_2019-09-17-When-Politics-Smothers-Everyday-Life-RealClearPolitics1-1024x599.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Screenshot_2019-09-17-When-Politics-Smothers-Everyday-Life-RealClearPolitics1-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Screenshot_2019-09-17-When-Politics-Smothers-Everyday-Life-RealClearPolitics1-768x449.png 768w, https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Screenshot_2019-09-17-When-Politics-Smothers-Everyday-Life-RealClearPolitics1.png 1118w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>RealClear Politics<\/strong>, by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/authors\/charles_lipson\/\">Charles Lipson<\/a> , RCP Contributor &#8212; September 17, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Partisan politics has crept into every corner of American life. Every  topic, from jokes to films, is now refracted through that lens. It\u2019s a  revoltin\u2019 development, as one sitcom character used to say, and it\u2019s  time to call it out.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Most issues do have a political dimension, of course. But seeing  everything that way leaves no space for other topics, no room for play  or humor or friends with different views. It intrudes on the private  world of family, friends, and voluntary associations. People need that  space to flourish. A tolerant, liberal democracy should provide it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I saw this suffocating environment up-close and personal this week  when I posted a funny comment by Louisiana\u2019s Sen. John Kennedy. His  earthy metaphors and odd juxtapositions make him one of Washington\u2019s  most quotable figures. In today\u2019s hyper-divisive politics, however, even  the most innocuous quote can land you in the briar patch. I felt a few  of those thorns when I posted his comment.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>What did Sen. Kennedy say? \u201cTrusting Russia, North Korea, and Iran is  like trusting a Jussie Smollett police report.\u201d What\u2019s wrong with that?  Not a thing. It\u2019s funny, fair, and memorable. But when everything is  partisan, you can always find something wrong. If nothing comes readily  to mind, blame the speaker for something else. He\u2019s from the wrong  political party. He supports the wrong policies. He\u2019s the wrong race.  He\u2019s the wrong gender. This sour perspective, says Sen. Kennedy, is \u201cwhy  aliens won\u2019t talk to us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>View the complete article including image, links and comments at:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2019\/09\/17\/when_politics_smothers_everyday_life__141267.html\">https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2019\/09\/17\/when_politics_smothers_everyday_life__141267.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RealClear Politics, by Charles Lipson , RCP Contributor &#8212; September 17, 2019 Excerpt: Partisan politics has crept into every corner of American life. Every topic, from jokes to films, is now refracted through that lens. It\u2019s a revoltin\u2019 development, as &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/when-politics-smothers-everyday-life\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13299,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13297\/revisions\/13299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}