Latest / The Most Important Question / TMIQ Today: Political Hobbyism

Transcript

TMIQ Today: Political Hobbyism · The Most Important Question

• 0:00
  [on-hold music] Welcome back to The Most Important Question today, where in just a couple minutes or less, we apply the Actually Pro-Life principles to a news headline and then help you answer the most important question, "What can I do?"
• 0:18
  [on-hold music] So you've probably already read a lot about politics this week, probably have opinions you could defend at a dinner table if you had one.
• 0:34
  But if somebody asked you the name of the person who decides how your local schools spend its money, you'd probably have to look it up. Almost everybody would. I do.
• 0:43
  There's a political scientist named Ethan Hersh, and the first person, when he realized this, he went after, was himself.
• 0:50
  He called what he was doing political hobbyism, specifically consuming and participating in politics by obsessive news following, by feeling the need to offer a hot take for each daily political flare-up, almost all of it from behind screens, like this.
• 1:05
  But then Ethan went out and measured it more widely.
• 1:08
  In twenty eighteen, which, a thousand years ago, yeah, he asked Americans how much time they spend on politics in a normal day, and a third of them said two hours or more. Wow.
• 1:18
  But of those people, four out of five said not one minute of that time went to any kind of real political work, constructive politics, as they say.
• 1:27
  Now, obviously, reading is not nothing, and I do this for a living, so professionally, like most things, I am the problem. But Ethan has a line about why we do it this way, and it is not a fun one.
• 1:38
  "Most of you engage in politics like this," he says, "because you are not afraid or afraid enough. On a personal level, you perceive the stakes to be low, and you might be right."
• 1:48
  I read that and thought, "Yeah, that's me." This is a mistake. Look at what beat us.
• 1:53
  Borrowed meeting rooms, lemonade and cookies, fifty adults at round card tables, chapter-based local organizations, everybody redirecting their political energy, uh, in Ethan's words, towards modest goals, towards taking over local party committees and recruiting state candidates, towards actually serving the material and emotional needs of people with stakes, of their actual neighbors.
• 2:16
  That's the whole game. It is proven. It is boring. It really works.
• 2:20
  In fact, one of the two most successful movements that he mentioned is the right to life movement, which is a big reason why we've ended all of our research and actions as Actually Pro-Life.
• 2:30
  Two years ago, Ballotpedia counted the school board seats up for election in the districts it tracks, and a third of them were unopposed. One name on the ballot.
• 2:40
  That's not, like, a hard choice for voters who are a little informed. That is no choice. Our friends at Run For Something publish a free guide to running for school board. You should read it. You should think about it.
• 2:51
  Or city council or whatever. I don't care. It's all slow and boring and hugely impactful on you and your neighbors. You can fight local book bans with your bare hands.
• 3:00
  Public health is just the people coughing at your work 'cause there's no paid sick days. Climate change is the flooded homes down the street, the heat your neighbors' backs feel because there's no covered bus stops.
• 3:10
  Man, no more hobbies, guys. Let's get to work. [on-hold music] Thanks for listening.
• 3:21
  Subscribe for more of these and for my longer conversations with incredible humans who've already asked and answered the most important question for themselves.
• 3:29
  You can get more answers for free twenty-four/seven at whatcanido.earth, or you can join hundreds of other important members to support the mission and make your actions go much, much further. [on-hold music]