Why It's OK to Ignore Politics

✍ Scribed by Christopher Freiman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 189
• Edition: 1°
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Do you feel like you’re the only person at your office without an "I Voted!" sticker on Election Day? It turns out that you're far from alone – 100 million eligible U.S. voters never went to the polls in 2016. That’s about 35 million more than voted for the winning presidential candidate.

In this book, Christopher Freiman explains why these 100 million need not feel guilty. Why It’s OK to Ignore Politics argues that you’re under no obligation to be politically active. Freiman addresses new objections to political abstention as well as some old chestnuts ("But what if everyone stopped voting?"). He also synthesizes recent empirical work showing how our political motivations distort our choices and reasoning. Because participating in politics is not an effective way to do good, Freiman argues that we actually have a moral duty to disengage from politics and instead take direct action to make the world a better place.

Key Features:

• Makes the case against a duty of political participation for a non-expert audience
• Presupposes no knowledge of philosophy or political science and is written in a style free of technical jargon
• Addresses the standard, much-repeated arguments for why one should vote (e.g., one shouldn’t free ride on the efforts of others)
• Presents the growing literature on politically motivated reasoning in an accessible and entertaining way
• Covers a significant amount of new ground in the debate over a duty of political participation (e.g., whether participating absolves us of our complicity in state injustice)
• Challenges the increasingly popular argument from philosophers and economists that swing state voting is effective altruism
• Discusses the therapeutic benefits of ignoring politics―it’s good for you, your relationships, and society as a whole.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
In Pursuit of Political Wisdom One
Information About Particulars
Social Science
The Illusion of Explanatory Depth
Can We Take a Shortcut?
Moral Questions
We’re All Partisan Hacks Two
Politically Motivated Reasoning
The Case for Humility
Maybe Everyone Else is a Partisan Hack
Is It Hopeless?
The Costs and Benefits of Political Three Participation Three
The Effectiveness of Political Action
Your Participation Doesn’t Promote Your Interests
The Public Interest
Other Kinds of Consequences
Local Politics
Effective Altruism and the Opportunity Cost of Political Participation
Political Action and Nonpolitical Action: Why Not Do Both?
On Ignoring the Root Causes of Injustice
What If Your Participation Can Make a Difference? The Case of Swing State Voting
Fairness and Free Riding Four
The Generalization Argument
Free Riding
Abstention and Free Riding: A Preliminary Remark
The Moral Significance of Nonpolitical Contributions
Efficiency and the Division of Labor
The Case for Political Contributions
What’s a Fitting Return for Political Participation?
The Problems in Practice
Environmental Goods: A Case Study
Motivation Matters
The Case for Morally Commendable Free Riding
Political Abstention and Complicity in Injustice Five
Inaction and Complicity
Is Politics Special?
How to Absolve Yourself of Complicity in Injustice
Political Abstention as Privilege
The Morality of the Message Six
The Expressive Argument
Private and Public Expression
The Message of Mere Participation
Participation as an Expression of Gratitude
Is Political Activism Virtuous?
But Can You Still Complain?
Political Ignorance Is Bliss Seven
Politics Makes Us Miserable
Politics Swallows Everything
Politics is Bad for Your Relationships
Why Not Disown the Other Side?
In Defense of Apolitical Politics
Conclusion: Why It’s Obligatory to Ignore Politics
Notes
References
Index