If everybody just stops caring about politics, we're going to

“If everybody just stops caring about politics, we’re going to lose the reins on our government.” Thus spoke Mark Manson, a voice of this restless age, who, though modern in tongue, echoed a truth as ancient as the fall of empires. His words strike like a clarion call through the fog of indifference — a warning that when the people grow weary of watching, the rulers grow bold in their power. To stop caring about politics is to surrender the helm of the ship while still at sea. And the sea, as the ancients knew well, is not merciful to those who drift without a captain.

For politics, in its truest sense, is not the squabbling of parties nor the shouting of factions. It is the art of the polis, the life of the city — the shared duty of a people to guard the flame of their own freedom. To lose the reins on government is not a metaphor alone; it is the literal loosening of the cords that bind authority to justice. When citizens cease to care, power does not vanish — it concentrates. The void left by apathy becomes the throne of ambition. Thus, the sleep of the public becomes the triumph of the few.

History bears grim witness to this truth. In the final days of the Roman Republic, the people, once fierce in their defense of liberty, grew tired of their own politics. They were weary of debate, cynical of corruption, hungry only for bread and spectacle. In their fatigue, they handed their power to strongmen — first to generals, then to emperors — and thus Rome traded freedom for comfort. The reins slipped from their hands, and the great republic that had once shaken kings was itself ruled by one. It did not fall in battle, but in silence, drowned in the stillness of civic apathy.

So too in every age, the pattern repeats. Tyranny does not rise solely by conquest; it is invited by neglect. When the people cease to speak, the powerful cease to listen. When they cease to question, corruption ceases to hide. The government then ceases to be a mirror of the people and becomes instead their master. Thus, Manson’s words cry not merely against indifference, but against the very spirit of surrender. For no government, however noble in birth, can remain free without the vigilance of its children. Freedom is not a gift; it is a discipline, a burden, and a duty.

Yet Manson’s tone is not one of despair, but of awakening. He calls upon us to remember that caring is power. The act of caring — of reading, of voting, of questioning — is itself an act of resistance against decay. Politics is not the realm of the few, but the inheritance of all. To care is to claim one’s share in the shaping of destiny. The great mistake of the modern age is to treat politics as something distant, when in truth it is the very air that freedom breathes. Every law, every tax, every silence of conscience — all these are political acts, whether chosen or ignored.

Let the young remember this most of all. For it is easy to scorn politics as corrupt, to sneer at leaders as unworthy, and to retreat into one’s private world. But this very scorn is the seed of ruin. The price of cynicism is always paid in chains. The reins of government will not lie idle; they will be seized by whoever reaches first — and those who do not care are ruled by those who do. The ancients warned that the punishment for refusing to engage in politics is to be governed by lesser men. That warning has never lost its edge.

Therefore, O listener, take this as your charge: care deeply, even when weary; speak, even when unheard; stand watch, even when the night is long. Study the laws that govern you. Question the hands that hold your future. Do not let your silence become the lullaby of tyranny. For liberty, once lost, is not easily reclaimed.

And when you are tempted to turn away, remember this truth: government belongs to the governed. The reins of power are not forged in marble halls, but in the hearts of those who care enough to steer. If we abandon them, the chariot of freedom will veer into shadow. But if we grasp them — firmly, wisely, together — then the republic, however battered, will endure. So let us care. Let us govern ourselves, lest we be governed by others.