I'm a policy person that doesn't like politics. Sometimes I think about being in a political office - but that would entail running for that office and making soundbite statements and that kind of makes me sick to my stomach. I like to read bills and think about different possibilities for bills and meet with communities (when they're not yelling at me). I like to think about what would make sense for people, but hate making hard decisions and coming to my final opinion. And again, there's that minor detail that conflict makes me cry and vomit.
Fortunately, just liking the policy and advocay parts of politics plays wonderfully into being a professor. You can teach the nuts and bolts and equip others to make their own decisions and do the work.
For some reason, that changed a bit this morning. Maybe I woke up funny, I don't know. But the House of Representatives health plan did not set well with me and I got worked up about it. So worked up, that I made a facebook status about it. Foolish, perhaps. I'm not one to make volatile or opionated statments on facebook, as I think they should largely be reserved for random statements or exciting life events. Of course, my status was misconstrued by some, but it was public and open for interpretation, which is what you get with the internet. I got annoyed and thought about erasing it all. But, then I decided "You know what, it's ok to make an educated and informed statement on something. And it's ok to get angry for the right reasons. And there's an awful lot of 20 year olds writing nonsensical twitters every 15 seconds, so why not state a valid opinion that I could defend with research, policy briefs, and the state budget if necessary?"
Sometimes, it 's good for a person to have a strong opinion. Even if it's me.
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