OPINION

Politics can be entertaining, profound

I am thankful for the possibility that politics might be fun again.

The U.S. isn't out of the woods. There remain threats to the republic. But the defeat of anti-democracy candidates in key elections, especially in swing states, is a victory for the rule of law and constitutional government.

Politics is serious business. Just ask protesters in Iran, troops fighting in Ukraine, or targets of bigotry in the United States. Consequences flow from politics, from the way neighborhoods develop, to the availability of health care, to policies shaping the economy to the possibility of a secure retirement.

But politics can be entertaining, and occasionally profound.

Politics and politicians have always been a source of charming diversion to the public, including those of us whose jobs involve paying attention to the consequences of political actions.

I've often expressed gratitude for that relief, whether we're smiling with them or laughing at them. For Bernie Sanders and his mittens at President Joe Biden's inauguration. For Sen. Ted Cruz when he fled to Cancun during a Texas power crisis.

But odd behavior is less entertaining when it has damaging consequences. It might be amusing if, say, an obscure state legislator had claimed that she lost an election because a dead foreign dictator had rigged the voting machines. When the same claim is made by an attorney representing the U.S. president, it isn't funny at all.

I will never shy away from celebrating what political philosopher Hannah Arendt called "public happiness." Arendt believed that we have a propensity for a kind of enjoyment found in participation in collective self-government. People get involved in politics for all sorts of reasons, including private benefit. But many find that working with others for public purpose (even if the ultimate goal is private gain) can lead to happiness found nowhere else.

A participatory republic is important not just because it might offer a fair way of determining who gets what, but also because everyone deserves a chance to experience public happiness. Autocracy is evil not only because it leads to arbitrary and unfair distribution of public benefits, but also because it reserves public happiness only for the autocrat.

Here's hoping that the joys of politics, silly and profound, can spread to all who want them.

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