A ground­break­ing analy­sis of polit­i­cal hob­by­ism — treat­ing pol­i­tics like a spec­ta­tor sport — and an urgent and time­ly call to arms for the many well-mean­ing, well-informed cit­i­zens who fol­low polit­i­cal news, but do not take polit­i­cal action. Do you con­sid­er your­self polit­i­cal­ly engaged? Prob­a­bly, yes! But are you, real­ly? The uncom­fort­able truth is that most of us have good inten­tions. We vote (some­times) and occa­sion­al­ly sign a peti­tion or attend a ral­ly. But we main­ly ​“engage” by con­sum­ing pol­i­tics as if it’s enter­tain­ment or a hob­by. We obses­sive­ly fol­low the news and com­plain about the oppo­si­tion to our friends or spouse. We tweet and post and share. The hours we spend on pol­i­tics are used main­ly as pas­time. Instead, polit­i­cal sci­en­tist and data ana­lyst Eitan Hersh offers con­vinc­ing evi­dence that we should be spend­ing the same num­ber of hours build­ing polit­i­cal orga­ni­za­tions, imple­ment­ing a long-term vision for our local com­mu­ni­ties, and get­ting to know our neigh­bors, whose votes will be need­ed in order to solve hard prob­lems. We could be accu­mu­lat­ing pow­er so that when there are oppor­tu­ni­ties to make a dif­fer­ence — to lob­by, to advo­cate, to mobi­lize — we will be ready. In an age of polit­i­cal tur­moil and as the 2020 elec­tion looms, Pol­i­tics Is for Pow­er is an inspir­ing, vital read that will make you hope­ful for America’s demo­c­ra­t­ic future.