When I was 17, I really cared about politics. I admired young politicians and was elated to join up with political organizations my first days on a college campus. Every day I would read newspapers, books on current affairs, and watch a lot of cable news and commentary. You will notice, however, that all of that was written in the past tense.

To be honest, I am not really sure when the honeymoon ended. We started fighting a lot my freshman year, that is for sure. I realized quickly how hopeless politics can be. Friends of mine were swallowed up by the "D.C. Dream," turning against their fellow blossoming politicians for their own selfish endeavors. National politics is sickening at best. Not on person, not one party, but the whole system. Trillions of dollars of debt, Michigan is 49th in the country economically, and tops priorities for so many politicians are pork legislation for the own hometowns.

Gone are the days (and they were gone a long, long time ago) when politics was not the biggest thing affecting most Americans. Now it clearly plays a dominant role in everyones life. Health care, Social Security, anti-smoking campaigns, and digital media affect millions on this continent. The devastating consequences of the AIDS crisis in Africa has turned from an issue of personal suffering to one of politicking by celebrities.

All of this is not to say that I am an anti-statist. I still vote and stay informed on issues. I still make my voice heard. But I really wish the days where you could sit down in a pub in Boston and see the leaders of the country were still around. Now, it's just a general frustration and distrust of politicians in America and the world.

I don't think it is a huge stretch for the average American to understand the feelings of a character like V from V for Vendetta. Not that I wish to blow anything up, that surely is terrorism, but sometimes politics push people to their very edge. If politics didn't consume those who choose to pursue it, maybe it wouldn't seem so hopeless. But when it consumes the souls of those who enter, turning them into selfish power-hungry bastards, politics surely loses some of its luster.