HIPS: Politics Can Poison Our Lives If We Let Them

By Bryan Hyde

COMMENTARY -- Ever stop to consider how much politics can drive our daily decisions, if we allow it to do so?

For instance, do we only drive a certain type of car because it reflects where we stand?

We all know people who will only drive American-made automobiles, or green vehicles, or cars made by manufacturers that never took bailout money or tried to cheat on emissions tests. 

When shopping for groceries, do we spend time looking for foods made with non-GMO vegetables and grains, free range meats and humanely raised egg and dairy products? 

Does our clothing come from non-sweatshop manufacturers? Do we shun designers who promote gun control or utilize images -- like the American flag -- that could be offensive to some?

You get the point.

Is it really just part of being an informed consumer?  Or is it choosing to be upset over things that don’t really have any kind of lasting impact on our lives?

This is more evidence of the power of politics to poison everything it touches.

The very nature of politics is to pit us against one another in a contest to see who gets to tell the other what to do.

The more areas of our lives we allow to become infected with politics, the more each of us will find opportunity for conflict. Does this improve the world in any measurable way?

People who clearly know what they stand for don’t need to bend others to their viewpoint.

* Hyde In Plain Sight is written by KDXU personality Bryan Hyde. Catch his daily HIPS vignette at 7:50-ish every weekday morning on KDXU and listen to The Bryan Hyde Show weekends at 7 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday nights.