Political Hobbyists

Nice essay on what citizens should do if they claim political awareness and discernment. 

..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.

Ofcourse that is not what most of us do - 

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.

Reading this reminded of my growing up years in India. Every adult I knew was politically opinionated. People feuded over their ideologies and in extreme cases, even shunned those who supported the other side. Yet, a vast majority of these folks never lined up to vote on election day. Instead they spent that day gathered around over chai and fritters to complain how their vote did not matter - nothing would ever change in India. It is interesting that now in their golden years, some of my relatives have started to exercise their vote ; still a far cry from the active political engagement the author writes about.