People, especially young people, often say that they don’t care about politics. They’re just not into it; they think politics doesn’t affect their lives. Even if they cared enough to get involved, they’re too busy with school or building careers and families, or trying to find a job after being laid off.

But politics rules their lives, often in unexpected ways. Bigtime ways. For instance, Obamacare is bleeding their ability to find a job. For several years, businesses have been reducing their workers in order to stay under 50 employees so they won’t be forced to pay for the “Affordable Care Act’s” gold-plated mandates. Obamacare also kicks in if an employee works over 30 hours a week, so to survive in a flailing economy many companies are switching full-time employees to part-time. According to the Congressional Budget Office about 2 million workers will lose their jobs as a result of the healthcare law, rising to about 2.5 million in 2024.

Obamacare is the triumph of politics over common sense. It was passed by the Democrat-majority Congress in the middle of the night on a Christmas Eve without a single Republican “yes” vote. This one law all by itself continues to depress wages and job creation all over the country every single day as its consequences reach tentacles into the lives of every American.

Politics isn’t just a bully pulpit, it’s a freedom-sucking bully. Job-cutting politics like Obamacare make life painful for families by draining take-home pay, which means parents must economize on essentials like food and clothing, as well as extras like violin lessons, soccer leagues or vacations, all consequences of one “healthcare” law. Instead of saving us $2,500 a year as the president promised, rates are going up as deductibles zoom to $6,000 or even $10,000 and tens of thousands are forced into costly coverage they don’t want.

If you complain about high gas prices, you’re talking politics, too. The president continues to stonewall the Keystone Pipeline to placate his rabidly anti-carbon base, even after a half-dozen studies that proclaim it safe. Politics again.

Californians pay the highest gas prices in the country thanks largely to the expensive carbon-obsessive rules passed by their Democrat-majority legislature. High gas prices don’t just affect the mom driving her offspring around, but also raise the price of everything from shoes to cars to food to birthday presents since the trucks that bring these goods must pay more for fuel.

Californians are now begging the Democrat legislature they have kept re-electing for nearly 44 years to halt yet another hike in gas taxes that they fear will cripple families faltering under the weight of the state’s still-struggling economy. Their Democrat rulers have also given them the second-highest tax burden in the nation at $9,509 for state and local taxes.

If you live in Democrat-ruled New York State, you’re paying the very highest income taxes in the nation at $9,718. Politics was hard at work when Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo bowed to the wrath of his militant environmental left wing by banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking). By a pen stroke he deprived property owners of their Constitutional right to benefit financially from their mineral rights. This political move is known as stealing; never mind that the last two Obama-appointed EPA administrators plus his former Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, have all declared fracking safe. Politics scorns facts.

Due to their governor’s politics, rural New Yorkers are losing their farms to bankruptcy. Next door under Pennsylvania’s Republican governor Tom Corbett the natural gas boom has created a blossoming of jobs and prosperity. The politics of those we elect make a big difference in our lives and liberty.

Because it’s politically critical for the president to please the Democrats’ Latino base and fatten future Democrat voter rolls, over 57,000 illegal immigrant young people were welcomed over our southern border in the last eight months by our chief executive who refuses to enforce our border and immigration laws. Contrary to news reports, 84 percent of them are teenagers, not innocent “children” according to Pew Research analysis of government data.

Many are gang members, and you can expect them to show up at your local high school for their free education. These illegal students have learning needs and English language deficits that can only be met with more teachers and higher school expenses for which you and I will pay increased taxes. Meanwhile, our own children’s education will suffer because classes will be more crowded and teachers’ time will be monopolized by the neediest illegal students.

As Pulitzer Prize winning commentator Dr.Charles Krauthammer said, politics is “the sovereign enterprise…everything else depends on politics. If you get your politics wrong, all the other things you love can disappear.”

Liberty for one thing. Politics can steal your right to choose your own health insurance and sabotage your children’s education. Politics has the power to reduce your standard of living with higher heating and gas bills forced on you by the global warmists’ fanatical war on traditional energy. Politics can take your livelihood, your property, and even your life as it did the rancher murdered by an illegal immigrant on his own land in Arizona. Plus thousands of American citizens murdered or sexually assaulted by illegal immigrants annually.

Politics is real and politics is earnest and whether you know it or not, politics is rocking your world. Something to keep in mind November 4.