Eitan Hersh

A brilliant condemnation of political hobbyism—treating politics like entertainment—and a call to arms for well-meaning, well-informed citizens who consume political news, but do not take political action. Who is to blame for our broken politics? The uncomfortable answer to this question starts with ordinary citizens with good intentions. We vote (sometimes) and occasionally sign a petition or attend a rally. But we mainly “engage” by consuming politics as if it’s a sport or a hobby. We soak in daily political gossip and eat up statistics about who’s up and who’s down. We tweet and post and share. We crave outrage. The hours we spend on politics are used mainly as pastime. Instead, we should be spending the same number of hours building political organizations, implementing a long-term vision for our city or town, and getting to know our neighbors, whose votes will be needed for solving hard problems. We could be accumulating power so that when there are opportunities to make a difference—to lobby, to advocate, to mobilize—we will be ready. But most of us who are spending time on politics today are focused inward, choosing roles and activities designed for our short-term pleasure. We are repelled by the slow-and-steady activities that characterize service to the common good. In Politics Is for Power, pioneering and brilliant data analyst Eitan Hersh shows us a way toward more effective political participation. Aided by political theory, history, cutting-edge social science, as well as remarkable stories of ordinary citizens who got off their couches and took political power seriously, this book shows us how to channel our energy away from political hobbyism and toward empowering our values.

How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change

Politics Is for Power

Katy Watkins

I have learned that the way to think about my own power as a citizen is not that l'm one out of 130 million votes, but that I can get more than one vote if I convince other people how they should vote or advocate. I have learned that some people out there have a thousand times the voting power that I have not because they are rich or perpetrators of fraud, but because they have earned the respect of their neighbors.

But you still may believe that political parties should be convincing voters on the issues not by offering babysitters, mental health services, or neighborly favors. This just doesn't feel natural to you, like something a party you would support ought to be doing. Anyone, from any side, can use these strategies, that's true. They already do. The question is whether the verbalist elite, who from the Progressive Era to the Twitterati have looked down on transactional politics, are finally interested in getting in the trenches to amass durable political power. If they don't want to, they should at least recognize that political organizations they fear are doing it in their place.

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