is Politics a bad word?

Alec MacGillis wrote an article in the Washington Post titled

No one is ‘playing politics’ on Solyndra or birth control. This is politics.

First,  Let me introduce you to a brief bio of the Author 

37-year-old Alec A Macgillis lives in Washington, DC, but has also spent time in Manchester, CT; Baltimore, MD and Kensington, MD.

He has worked for The Washington Post, Political Reporter, Political Blogger and The Trail.

Stefan A Macgillis is in Alec’s family. Online, Alec goes by the alias AlecMacGillis. MacGillis has a peek score of 7.04 out of 10. A peek score is a score from 1-10, 10 being the highest, which is based on your internet relevancy. It takes into consideration things such as friends on social network site, followers, readers, etc.

Macgillis, in writing this article, is attempting to reach out to the American public. He is shedding some light on a topic that America needs to take notice of, politics. What is politics? Politics can be defined as a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. Today when someone is being labeled a politician, or the phrase he/she's just playing politcs, it is viewed negatively. MacGillis provides us with several examples in the article, referring to the Susan G. Kolmen foundation when they cut grants to Planned Parenthood. Critics were saying they were "playing politics with women's healthcare." 

MacGillis then goes on to say that it is somewhat troubling, perhaps, misleading about associating the word politics with negative connotations. He points out that politics is involved in nearly, if not all,  major issues we face as a country, and furthermore, it should be that way.  I completely agree with the points he is making.  When you observe the meaning of the word politics, it is important not to interpret it out of context. Politics is something we use as citizens to make decisions, we evaluate the pros and the cons, we must look at the picture as a whole, taking into consideration things like values  and where we want to invest our resources. We all should set aside more time to invest in politics, but not "politics of cynicism, but politics of hope" as Obama once said.  We need to raise awareness on the issues surrounding this country, and come together through politics to make decisions on these issues. That is why politics exist in the first place, it is important to not allow ourselves to be turned off when politics is brought up as the topic of conversation, to not think of things negatively, but more neutral minded, better yet, open minded, allow ourselves to truly discuss our issues and then make responsible decisions through politics.