In his new book, Politics Is for Power, Tufts University professor Eitan Hersh makes a provocative argument: Watching cable news, obsessing over the latest scandal—even voting only in presidential elections—is political hobbyism. Instead of engaging with politics as a civic duty, or as a means to change our communities, he says, we treat it like a sport—tune in, do little, rinse, repeat. Here, Hersh offers some ideas on how to break out of passive politics, and spring into action. Instead of thinking of politics like a hobby or a sport, how should we think of it? When I think about people doing politics, I think about people working with other people on goals or strategies to influence the government. Maybe they want to get some of their neighbors to vote a certain way or they want to lobby a politician. Most people aren’t going to do politics like that; they don’t have time. But what’s happening is there This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-Seven Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 29 Day in the Life: Shirin Neshat Charles Shafaieh pays a visit to the home of one of New York’s most widely recognized artists. Arts & Culture Issue 29 The Evolution of Self-Care How did the conversation about self-care shift from society's radical margins into the indulgences of an individualized mainstream? Arts & Culture Issue 50 Close Knit Meet the weavers keeping traditional Egyptian tapestrymaking alive. Arts & Culture Issue 50 The Old Gays Inside a Californian TikTok “content house” of a very different stripe. Arts & Culture Issue 50 New Roots The Palestinian art and agriculture collective sowing seeds of community. Arts & Culture Issue 50 Angela Trimbur An all-out tour de force.
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