Sick and Tired of Politics? Here’s Why It (Really) Matters

With Democracy in Retrograde, a co-founder of the hugely popular Betches Media offers a guide to civic engagement

By Beth Saulnier

“Something has been lost in the way people think about what we owe each other, and what is owed to us by coexisting in a society,” observes Sami Fishbein Sage ’11. “In reality, we’re all connected to people whom we’ve never met, and will never meet.”

With the presidential election close on the horizon, the ILR alum has co-authored a self-help guide to reigniting a passion for civic engagement: Democracy in Retrograde: How to Make Changes Big and Small in Our Country and in Our Lives.

Published in July 2024 by Simon & Schuster, the book offers a roadmap to becoming more involved in civic and political life—including an analysis of the deeply divided status quo; a grounding in how government works; and exercises to help the reader asses their own potential contributions, temperament, and bandwidth.

Sami Sage

Sage is chief brand officer of Betches Media, a news and culture company she co-founded with two fellow alums as undergrads. (Among her tasks: hosting its Morning Announcements podcast, in which she recaps the headlines in around six minutes.)

She lives on Long Island with her husband and three dogs, one of whom is named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54.

1) What do you see as the state of civic engagement?

People were really engaged in 2016 and 2020—but now they’re tired of hearing that every election is the most important of their lifetimes, and that one party or the other is going to fix everything.

Part of what has torn at the fabric of our democracy is how polarized we’ve become, and how entrenched we are in our own silos. We spend a lot of time online, where we’re pulled further into echo chambers that are optimized to enrage us and further confirm our beliefs.

We have a lot of virtual connections, but we don’t interact in real life with people who are unlike us as much as we used to—and that is in many ways dehumanizing.

We have a lot of virtual connections, but we don’t interact in real life with people who are unlike us as much as we used to—and that is in many ways dehumanizing.

2) Are particular demographics more engaged or disengaged than others?

Something we learned in researching the book is the concept of the “exhausted majority.” The nonprofit More in Common found that only groups at the two poles—moderate and extreme conservatives and extreme progressives—are consistently engaged in activism.

And that only comprises one third of Americans; to varying degrees, the other 67% are disengaged. They hold a mix of views, but they share a repulsion to extremism.

That’s why having conversations exclusively online is so dangerous: all we see is the extremes. We don’t hear the more rational, nuanced voices who are willing to listen and compromise—but there are more people in that group, by a lot.

3) You write, “Refusing to engage with our country’s very real challenges is a glide path for extremists to gain power.” Could you expand on that?

We argue that not engaging in civic life is itself a political stance; it’s ceding the public square to people who want the most extreme policies. They’re the ones invested in showing up every day.

The average American just wants to live their life; they don’t want to spend their spare time having conversations about polarizing topics. That’s why we say there are many ways to get involved with your community and to rebuild our civic fabric. If we’re all more connected, we can see our humanity—and realize that what’s online doesn’t represent how most Americans think.

The cover of "Democracy in Retrograde"

4) Even though you run a media site, you recommend auditing one’s news consumption. Why?

The algorithms are built to upset you—to capitalize on your emotions and keep you scrolling—so you should be intentional about where you get your news and how you consume it. Obviously, that’s difficult on social media. But you can choose to follow particular news accounts, groups, organizations, influencers, and politicians.

You can also have a separate email address where you get news updates, and read them when you’re in a space to consume it. Maybe you watch a particular show at the end of the week. You don’t have to consume every single thing in order to be an informed American.

5) You give readers exercises to understand themselves—whether they’re an idealist or realist, an optimist or pessimist, and so on. Why is that an important step toward effecting change?

On a sports team, you don’t expect everyone to play every position. People are more likely to do something that feels true to them, that is fulfilling, that matches their abilities and lifestyle.

Being engaged doesn’t have to mean knocking on doors, running a campaign, or being in the weeds of foreign policy. There are different ways to embody your values, like making art or donating to a nonprofit. Any sort of volunteering is a type of civic engagement; it’s about getting out of your personal silo and into a giving mindset.

Being engaged doesn’t have to mean knocking on doors, running a campaign, or being in the weeds of foreign policy.

6) We all know the adage, “Don’t talk about politics at the dinner table.” But you encourage readers to do so under certain circumstances. Why?

The most effective way to change people’s minds and to drive turnout is not through pundits or ads; it’s through conversations with people they know and trust.

It’s called relational organizing: feeling out what’s important to people, and making them understanding the connection to civic or political issues. Not everything has to be so partisan.

(Sage portrait by Claire Esparros.)

Published July 25, 2024

Leave a Comment

Once your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Other stories You may like