Anthony

One common mistake of many political junkies is that they assume that everyone is just like them: taking politics seriously and enthusiastically. Some political junkies are also active (like canvassing during elections or attending protests), and some are mostly talk. There are many shades of grey in how citizens participate in the process.

So "Pull out all the stops with maximizing voter turnout, mitigating voter suppression, and framing the midterms as an appealing event that everyone should WANT TO participate in." is a nice mantra. And in the short term, good things might happen. But for many citizens, it's hard to keep this level of interest up for long.

Most citizens just want politics to be in the background of their lives. One thing I like about the TDG is that it allows citizens this level of participation. It only asks citizens to just vote once a year for one of their neighbors who has good character and capacity for governance. By voting in this way, they do their civic duty--and not worry about politics any more.

But the TDG is far away. What to do in the short term? I hope some of these Medium political writers are spending more time in their communities--if they really want to make change .