By Adam Bitely — Driving across Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia over the past week opened my eyes to a world I absolutely love. That is a world where the affairs of politicians and government policy matter little.
Virginia has elections coming up in November to decide every seat in the legislature. The State Senate is narrowly controlled by Democrats, and the House is overwhelmingly Republican. If the results of the elections swing to the right, the State Senate, House and Governorship will all be controlled by the GOP.
This is considered an important election to political junkies, but to ordinary Virginians, most don’t care. In fact, a recent poll shows that 70 percent of registered voters in Virginia are paying little to no attention to the upcoming legislative election.
So traveling across the Commonwealth last week was quite refreshing for an escape from the all-political world of Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The political junkies of Washington D.C. and the metropolitan area are constantly fixated on the trivial goings on of countless bureaucrats and politicians who believe the sun revolves around them. Big news in Washington is anything from where a politician was spotted grabbing drinks to where lobbyists meet with White House officials. This of course is news that carries absolutely no consequence to regular, ordinary Americans.
In real America (anywhere outside of the political bubble of D.C.), regular folks are living life without needing the constant morphine drip of what is happening inside the halls of Congress. It is in real America where one can learn how truly inconsequential Congress and the President truly are. Certainly, the federal government makes decisions that impact millions of people, but in real America, Congress deserves an appropriate minimum time of attention.
The hubbub of the Presidential election is irrelevant to most people. After all, a President is a single person. And no one person really wields the power of a genie. Even if the election of 2012 is to result in a different President, America wouldn’t automatically turn into something else. Most of America understands this, with the exception of the people inside the Beltway bubble.
It’s amazing to be in a place where the biggest interaction one has with their government is when the trash is collected at the curb. This is where I want to be. Not in D.C. where people are worried about how much they can benefit from having political access.
In Washington, the environment is full of folks worrying about which party is scoring the most political points. Washingtonians believe that regular America is intently focused on this game. News flash for all Washingtonians, no one else cares about which party is “patriotic” or which protest is more “American”.
This type of pointless debating is irrelevant to the lives of real people.
Just look at Massachusetts 2012 Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, a former Obama administration official, who recently said that she is going for the “hick vote” to win her election against Scott Brown. It is this attitude that is held by many folks in Washington that really cements in the difference between “real America” and the Beltway bubble of arrogance.
It is in real America where the greatness of our society shows through. Millions of people interacting and coordinating daily without the need of seeing what Congress is doing. The world that exists outside of the Beltway boil is one of entrepreneurship, innovation and doing what it takes to make ends meet.
The values of real America are lost on the people of D.C. It is perhaps for this reason that the policies that stream out of Washington on a daily basis are consistently poisonous to the truly better world that is real America.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @AdamBitely.
