A Post-Despair Politics?

I came across the following reader comment on Andrew Sullivan's site earlier today:

This is yet another email from an Obama supporter who has lost all hope. I will no longer vote in national elections, because it is clear to me now that my vote for president or senator are worthless. A handful of morons in (insert a state here) invalidate my choice because the Senate is ruled by 5-6 Senators that refuse to face tough choices that need to be made to avoid a financial catastrophe in 10 years. There will be NO health care bill passed and the raging idiots will blame the Democrats and vote the Republicans in a landslide in November 2010. Forget about the REALLY tough problems like the debt, Social Security, moving away from our dependence on foreign energy supplies, etc. If Congress can't get it's collective shit together to pass a bill that attempts to fix a problem EVERYONE agrees on, then all hope is lost.

Obama can't change this. The country has exactly the government it deserves: fat, stupid and lazy. Built to respond to the 24-hour news cycle and a singular goal of protecting seats in the next election. Obama is a one termer. I hate writing that, but it's true. Republicans will put up some populist puff piece in 2012 and he's going to win.

I'm done.

I feel this about the political process most of the time. In Canada, a Defense Minister and former Chief of Defense Staff stand accused of war crimes by what appears to be a credible source. The response of the Prime Minister is first to denigrate the source and then prorogue Parliament to prevent further inquiry. The opposition, which has the power to bring down this government at will does nothing. That opposition is led by a world-renowned human rights scholar.

Who would want to be a part of this?

The more important question for me is, if this arena no longer permits authentic political action, then where might such action occur? I don't have a ready answer for this, but I think it is an important question to raise.

I will vote in the next election, which we desperately need sooner rather than later, but I am not sure how much of my energy I want to put to something pretty much guaranteed do make little difference. Yet I think as we withdraw from the formal political process we owe it to ourselves to re-engage somewhere else. If we don't, the bastards really do win.