Disconnect.

I'm coming to terms with what has been making me so upset recently with politics (aside from a cascade of problems in my personal relationships, my treatment of others, and figuring out what to do with my life.)

Namely, I am very upset that I feel so distant, so utterly disconnected from such a large swath of humanity and the way they see the world. I admit that this may be because my own views may be far off the mark, but I consider myself a fairly reasonable person, and am utterly shocked by the things that people believe. As an easy example, I simply do not understand how any reasonable person can currently support the Republican party unless they are one of many things: actively cynical about their own tax dollars, blindly ideological, engaging in identity politics, blindly devoted to wedge issues, or most importantly - not paying attention.

What seems to be happening is that I will identify an issue. Maybe I will notice the issue in a news story, or maybe it will come up in casual discussion, or maybe it will be something I encounter in normal life. Gathering all of the facts that I can reasonably gather, I will then set about looking for a reasonable solution: What are the causes of the problem? How do these causes lead to the current consequences? Who are the players? Why do they behave they do? How do we make this problem less severe without creating problems for other people? What are the obstacles? In short, I take a pragmatic tack and try to preserve human dignity. (I am not interested in debating what comprises human dignity.)

So then I look around, and almost half of the people in our country support what seems to me to be the exact wrong idea - one that forcefully violates the answer to every question I pose, almost everything I consider rational, or decent, or reasonable, or human. And the reasons and arguments supporting these positions are always so absurd that I would laugh except that I actually feel like crying. And then find myself seething in irrepressible anger. And I simply cannot connect myself with what other people are thinking. And then I feel utterly powerless - useless...and then very alone.

Any solutions for this? I know that politics do not define souls, but I often have a hard time seeing past it unless I have multiple or prior interactions with the individual. I'm having a hard time not simply deciding that there is an entire "type" of mind that I can never understand and realizing there is no point in even trying to contribute (in a broad sense) to a better future, and giving up.

I realize this is all very juvenile...but my sense of frustration is so intense I almost feel the urge to disconnect with individuals because it seems utterly futile...so I figured I'd see if you had any ideas.

(PS. Riding scooters in Turkey is sweet...especially along the cliffs on winding roads flanked by mountains and steep rocky drop offs to the ocean unprotected by guardrails. This is a shot of us looking over the edge of the road/cliff as we took a break. And, brand new! A video!)