Much of this blog and much of my rantings have focused on the decline of civic action and social capital. The writings have often been an exercise in self-righteous consternation. Nevertheless, this month my impish ways have felt significantly more validated after learning of the work of Eitan Hersh and his recent book, Politics is for Power . His thesis argues that our citizenry (especially white liberals) engage with our political system as spectators by consuming or watching news and primarily focusing on news and issues that have some panash or pizzazz. They end up thinking that they are being good citizens for this spectating, but really, they are not doing anything. He describes this phenomena as Political Hobbyism. And this is bad for our democracy. Mr. Hersh, goes onto argue that politics takes on a similar function as Sports. We root for our team, disparage the other team, and we react to theatrics, celebrity, and very titillating behavior w...