Give Up
The value of political apathy and disengagement
PI Editorial

All should care about politics. Politics is the creation of the laws which govern our behavior, preserve our freedoms of thought, expression and action, help the American economy grow and create prosperity for all citizens, and defend our very lives in the face of those who seek to kill us.

This organization hopefully serves as a resource for those who have an interest in increasing knowledge in the subject of politics, and for those who are attracted to the ideas of politics but who are repelled by the partisanship, irrelevance, and sophistries represented by most of the current political establishment.

But the inescapable reality of any society is that many people just don't have the interest or ability to form comprehensive, interested political opinions. Many people will deem substantive discussions of public policy and political philosophy radically boring, no matter the real-world personal impact of the political idea. This is normal. Many of us have no intellectual interest in sciences such as biochemical engineering, for example, despite our recognition of their incredible social value and real-world impact.

Your interest in politics is just as individual and subjective as your interests in sports, music, or art. PI can't make you like our Social Security articles any more than we can make you like Citizen Cope's music.

We do our best to persuade those to support us, but we cannot (nor do we wish to) force anyone to, or otherwise imply (like many other political activists do) that political engagement is somehow a civic duty.

The ability to vote and of political expression are indeed rights, but rights are not the same thing as civic requirements. Their exercise can be declined, such as one can decline the right to bear arms or any other American privilege.

Those without political interest should feel free to decline their right to political expression. They should follow their preferences as they see fit, and their free choice and free expression of it should not be harassed by citizen-activists who tell them their only choices are to Vote or Die.

Disinterest is one thing. Active ignorance is another, entirely.

Most people ignorant of politics are ignorant simply because they lack an interest in gaining any understanding of politics. As mentioned, this is natural and understandable. There is a smaller but vocal group, however, who actively advocate policy positions without the benefit of substantive political, legal, or economic knowledge.

Again, it is helpful to think of politics as any other genre or discipline. Certainly, the combination of personal interests and the free speech rights we all enjoy have tempted many laymen to talk about issues in medicine, science, and law. But those of minimal knowledge in these fields generally shy from writing books, publishing articles, and otherwise feigning expertise in them.

Sadly, this is not the case in politics. Many hubristic Americans confuse the civic importance of politics with a blanket license to bloviate ignorantly about politics of personal interest. Many of these know-nothings are bestselling authors of political books and hosts of popular political television shows, exacerbating the misperception that the public airing of an uninformed political opinion is some sort of rite of passage into civic responsibilty.

The public posturing by ill-informed pundits, as well as their counterproductive prodding of politically-disinterested and disaffected citizens into voting booths, has damaged America's political institutions. It has also lowered the quality of political discourse, inhibiting effective new ideas which are drowned out in a cluttered sea of partisan eye-gouging.

Those without political expertise, knowledge, or skill in advocacy should refrain from the public airing of their views. They should consider it their public duty.

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