Turn on to politics, or politics will turn on you.

The words of Ralph Nader, “Turn on to politics, or politics will turn on you,” carry the weight of warning and responsibility. They remind us that to ignore the forces that govern society is not safety but surrender. For politics, whether we choose to engage with it or not, shapes our freedoms, our labors, our food, our wars, and even the air we breathe. To withdraw into apathy is to invite unseen hands to rule unchecked, and in their unchecked rule, to find ourselves governed against our will.

The ancients knew this truth well. In Athens, Pericles proclaimed that a man who took no interest in politics was not harmless, but useless—for his silence left the city vulnerable to corruption. To “turn on” to politics is to awaken, to see the threads of power and law that bind all lives together. But to turn away is to let others pull those threads in secret, weaving a cloak of tyranny while the people slumber. Thus Nader’s words ring with timeless clarity: if you do not master politics, it will master you.

Consider the story of the Roman Republic, where citizens once fiercely guarded their rights. But over time, many grew weary of public life, leaving decisions to a few ambitious men. Into that void stepped Julius Caesar, who seized authority and toppled the republic into empire. The people, having turned away from politics, soon found that politics had turned upon them, binding them to the will of one man. Their apathy purchased not peace, but servitude.

In Nader’s own life, his words were forged through battle. He saw corporations and governments neglect safety, allowing citizens to be harmed by dangerous cars and unchecked industries. By awakening public awareness and stirring citizens to act, he forced reforms that saved countless lives. Yet his teaching remained the same: had the people not risen, politics would have betrayed them, protecting profit over human life.

So let this wisdom endure: politics is not the realm of rulers alone—it is the shared burden of every citizen. To abstain is to give consent to injustice; to engage is to shape destiny. Nader’s warning is both stern and hopeful: awaken, participate, speak, and act, lest the machinery of power crush you unawares. For the choice is eternal—turn toward politics, or live in the shadow of politics turned against you.