Crisis on infinite CNNs

I haven't posted much since coming back from vacation because every time I sit down to knock something out, I find myself staring off into the middle distance and going, "Urrrmmmmm..."

The thing is, politics is, for the most part, pretty dumb. As in: not intellectual. It's a lot of people posing--affecting airs of being Serious or outraged, of thinking themselves caught up in some exciting, historical struggle for Something Or Other. But most of these people--the politicians, the pundits--they're just so awfully mediocre. Such forgettable people. And sometimes I think it's a real shame that I spend so much time and energy engaging with all of it. Just what do I think I'm doing, exactly? What is this, this me giving my two cents about every dumb non-issue that comes down the chute from the NYT, Sullivan, Yglesias, and the rest of it?

The thing is, I'm not really a guy who does a lot. It's not like I'm particularly politically active, or go volunteer and so forth. I'll donate some money here and there, but nothing that requires a whole lot of commitment. Even when it came to Obama, the most I could muster was dragging Marian along to go knock on a few dozen doors. I never even made a phone call. So: it's not like I'm some "player" and that this blog is, I don't know, doing something for me. It's pretty much just here because the thing I really like to do is to argue and write essays and try to find clever ways to be contrarian.

And, you know, that's fine. But what I'm finding is that, well, politics isn't a very great vehicle for the kind of argument/essays/etc. that I had in mind. I mean: how many times can you argue for things on the merits? It's not like there are many issues out there that are genuine puzzles that need solving; the issues are long solved, it's just that what remains is the purely political task of getting them implemented. But that requires political action--not further discussion.

So, I dunno. I'm thinking of taking a step back from all the nonsense. For a while I thought about trying to introduce into the blog what is probably my biggest competitive advantage as a writer--some comedy--but honestly I just can't think of an angle. I mean, I think if I could carve out a niche as sort of a funny Yglesias, that would be something, but, man, would that ever be difficult pull off...I think you can end up in partisan-hack territory real quick with that. But there are other things, too: for example, I like how Coates' blog is a little more personal and veers into pop culture more. So, like I said: I dunno. I guess we'll see what develops.