In Defense of Tuning Out

Getting constantly worked up about politics doesn’t help America or democracy.

Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday was a total spectacle from both the president and his Democratic opposition. What’s the point of these speeches anymore? Politicians on both sides of the aisle acted like toddlers and Americans emerged less informed than they were before Trump’s hour and a half long drone fest full of false claims and needless taunting of half the country.

The net result of these increasingly useless governmental events is even deeper disdain for all politicians from anyone who is not a Kool-Aid drinking partisan of either Trump or Democrats.

Trump had a real chance for an extended honeymoon this time around—and possible expansion of his political coalition after a narrow win—that was quickly squandered due to a Democratic-like focus on a hyper-online base, as Ruy highlighted in yesterday’s column. Public disapproval of Trump has been steadily increasing over the course of his first few weeks in office. A highly partisan address to Congress and chaotic policy shifts on tariffs, governmental reform, and national security—as anxiety about inflation rises and consumer confidence declines—will do little to change that dynamic.

Meanwhile, Democrats remain historically unpopular and their undignified behavior at the address personifies their negative image. Really, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, you can’t keep your intemperate members in line for five minutes or muster some standing applause for the nice little kid battling cancer who wants to be a cop? Pathetic and embarrassing.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s response for the Democrats was at least measured, calm, and a blissfully short ten minutes. She performed far better in this opposition role than many others giving partisan responses in past years. Slotkin seems like a mature and decent person—a model for future Democrats. You can see why she got elected in Michigan last year even as Trump triumphed at the top of the ticket.

Interestingly, Slotkin ended her remarks by imploring people not to tune out of politics:

So as much as we need to make our government more responsive to our lives today, don't for one moment fool yourself that democracy isn't precious and worth saving.

But how do we actually do that? I know a lot of you have been asking that question.

First, don't tune out. It's easy to be exhausted, but America needs you now more than ever. If previous generations had not fought for democracy, where would we be today?

Second, hold your elected officials, including me, accountable. Watch how they're voting. Go to town halls and demand they take action. That's as American as apple pie.

Three, organize. Pick just one issue you're passionate about—and engage. And doom scrolling doesn't count. Join a group that cares about your issue, and act. And if you can't find one, start one.

As a civic ideal, paying attention to current events, holding leaders accountable, and organizing around issues is solid advice. However, given the decrepit state of modern politics, it’s worth pondering whether Slotkin has it wrong.

Maybe tuning out politics is the single best thing Americans could do to help restore sanity and balance to our two-party system.

For those who endlessly obsess about partisan events and media coverage of politics, ask yourself seriously, are you personally better off today in terms of your own values, composure, and knowledge about the country from all the “doom scrolling” and agitated online behavior that defines contemporary political life? Some people who get into to this sort of thing (or get paid to do it) might defend their preoccupations. But most people would likely answer, no, following politics in this fanatical manner is not helping them personally or improving civic life in the country.

There are large numbers of Americans who already tune out politics—only around one fifth of Americans pay close attention to local and national news according to Pew, and even fewer pay attention to international events. Maybe these people know something the rest of the political obsessives do not. Consider these upsides:

1. Tuning out politics is better for your own well-being. Partisan politics is designed to keep people in a constant state of fulmination and anger about the perfidy of the other side. Think, rage posting about something Trump or Biden did or didn’t do. Feverishly scrolling through partisan media feeds to remind oneself about how awful Republicans or Democrats and their supporters are. Getting in a fight with a friend or family member about a candidate or policy preference. Finding random people on X, Instagram, TikTok, or Notes to yell at or make fun of about their views.

None of this behavior is healthy for anyone. It doesn’t improve mental attitudes or increase happiness in life. It makes people fidgety, mad, stressed, maladjusted—and no fun to be around.

2. Tuning out politics bypasses the emotional manipulation of the two parties. Partisan politics is also designed to constantly poke and prod people’s emotions to get them to argue, send money, support specific candidates, promote talking points, and lambast opponents. If you don’t pay attention to this nonsense in the first place, the emotional manipulation doesn’t work and the partisan spin falls flat. If enough people start tuning out Republicans and Democrats alike, both parties will have to think much harder about how to reach normal voters who don’t buy their attempts to control them for partisan gain.

3. Tuning out politics makes you less susceptible to weird conspiracies and extremist political thinking. The strangest, most far-out views in modern politics are typically held and promoted by the so-called “most engaged” party members and elites. It’s almost like part of the job description now. The more politics you perform or consume, the nuttier you get.

If you tune out the loons on the right and the left, or from some other ideological dimension, you can be a normal person with a mix of views and opinions that don’t fit party lines. You can like some of Trump’s actions, say on immigration or DEI, and dislike others like tariffs or screwing over Ukraine. Likewise for the Dems, you can like their positions on Social Security and health care and dislike their strange trans views or talking up the economy while record inflation sets in.

Non-conformity provides liberation from the “stay in line, at all times” partisan bubble.

4. Tuning out politics forces the two parties to deal with the most important issues in order to capture the vote of normies. All the positive benefits above lead to the most important outcome which is to force the two parties to change their ways on policy development and campaigning. Getting involved with conformist party institutions doesn’t seem to change them at all, and more likely, just reinforces the negative in-group/out-group mentality that plagues American politics today.

If instead a critical mass of people checks out of partisan politics altogether, Republicans and Democrats won’t have a choice but to reconfigure their errant ways to attract more swing voters and disengaged people in upcoming elections. These voters come in many different stripes but uniformly focus on basic economic security and quality of life issues, not partisan sideshows. Biden successfully captured these types in 2020; Trump in 2024. Yet neither of these two presidents have done much of anything in recent years to turn this temporary support into sustained majorities and strong public consensus for their policy approach.

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This is genuine power if harnessed correctly. Make the two parties come to the mass of good-hearted, non-ideological, cross-pressured voters in America rather than relying on amped up, extremist base voters and media outlets to win narrow victories.

Want to help American democracy? Try tuning out politics and forcing the two parties to tune in to what normal voters want and need. It will help your mind and soul, and just might force a necessary correction in public life that can lead to more rational and cooperative politics that serves the interests of most Americans.