Plato wrote centuries ago that “one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” And I hope you’ll forgive my academic snobbery for opening this article with a quote from Plato, but as is often the case, we humans have shown that no matter how many centuries pass, we will always refuse to learn our lessons.

In his book The Republic, conceived in ancient Greece and the seed from which political concepts sprang, Plato warns that, all too often, the wisest and most capable people are precisely those who prefer to abstain from holding power, as they are fully aware of their shortcomings and of the risk involved in making decisions that affect millions of people.

Plato argues that this applies not only to those with active roles in politics but also to those who participate in the public discourse—which today translates to the civic duty of voting in elections, staying informed, and holding leaders accountable. This was and remains the only way to prevent bad governments. Which makes it inevitable to ask ourselves—as we look around and see a world teetering on the brink of institutional collapse, the breakdown of representative democracy, and the erosion of the bare minimum of human civility—whether it has really been worth it for so many millions of people to still say, “I don’t do politics.”

Can you? Really?

Let’s take a look at the situation we’re in today, shall we? We live in a country where there is no right to universal healthcare, much less to clean water. And the government is proposing cuts to federal programs like Medicaid. In this country, affordable housing is a myth, and more and more people—especially younger generations—are forced to live with their parents or move back in with them. Inflation is skyrocketing, and everyday costs—especially groceries and utility bills—have squeezed many households’ livelihoods.

Meanwhile, the White House is home to one of the most corrupt occupants in history, with erratic governance and a gridlocked lack of bipartisan cooperation that makes it impossible to accomplish anything—let alone anything that benefits the majority of the population. Caregiving shortages, a slow-motion jobs collapse, and the absolute lack of worker protections are the cherry on top. If you’re an immigrant or a person of color in this country, the situation is doubly dire.

And we’re not talking here about taking sides or choosing a party.

Let’s put ourselves at the center of the moral compass and see which way it points. Can you still comfortably say that you “don’t do politics”?

And look, I’m not just pulling this out of thin air. Nor is it about absolute indifference to political life. In fact, it has more to do with the position millions of people find themselves in—where neither the traditional right nor the traditional left seems like a comfortable place to be. According to a January Gallup poll, a record-high 45% of U.S. adults identified as political independents in 2025. Most of them are Gen Z. This may explain, among many other things, the success of the wave of Democratic Socialists. This, and the fact that, well, they seem to be among the few with a reasonably stable and less corrupt moral compass.

Now, it’s one thing to identify as an independent because the options on the fringes simply don’t work anymore, and quite another to wash your hands of the matter entirely. And who can wash their hands of politics? By all accounts, those who have the privilege of not being affected by it. And there are fewer and fewer of those people, because if there’s one thing those of us who have survived dictatorships know, it’s that the so-called “middle class” is the first to disappear when tyranny takes the throne. All that’s left is “them” and “us.”

As Desmond Tutu said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Tags: politics