Politics make for mediocre missions

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“Politics” has largely replaced religion as a source of meaning in Western countries.

In the dimension of purpose, this manifests as making some political agenda into a personal mission.

That causes all the usual personal problems taking on a mission does in general. Additionally, it messes up politics itself, and contributes to our current crisis of institutions.

Political activism can be valuable if it is realistic, meaning if you are competent at it and if you are promoting policies that are likely to work. Taking it as a personal mission usually results in overlooking those “ifs” in favor of narcissistic emotional needs.

There is no cosmic scoreboard. Do you have something specific to contribute, or are you just showing off how on-the-right-side you are?