Civics versus Politics

Why they're so different, and that's a good thing

I’m back in LA, in a routine, eating vegetables, doing all the life things. Life is good.

The day before we flew home, I had a conversation with someone I love and respect very much (he knows who he is) and this impromptu exchange completely unlocked something for me.

As the best discoveries tend to be, it was so simple.

He asked what “civics” means to me, personally. At first I was anxious. The question felt loaded, which was 100% me projecting and 0% the intention behind it. But did I have it in me to articulately explain to someone (who already knows, loves and supports me) what “civics” means to me — without fumbling my way through or falling into a partisan trap?

There were a few landmines to step over but ultimately, we landed on the same page, with a simple takeaway that I think everyone needs to hear: civics and politics are very different.

When I was a first-year law student, the contracts professor joked that if we weren’t careful, law school would make us stupider. What he meant was that law students quickly start looking at a problem through a certain lens and forget to think practically. [Queue fodder for actually being educated beyond our own intelligence, but this was a valid anecdote.]

There are times when the magnitude of what I *think* I’m trying to do becomes my worst enemy.  I tell myself every post needs a voice bigger than my own to keep readers coming back.  More often, I let the overwhelming idea of politics muddy the waters, when politics isn’t what I really care about at all. 

It’s undeniable that politics takes up a lot of space.  But the simple answer is that the practice of civics isn’t supposed to be political. Not if we’re doing it the right way.

After years of reexamining “civics” as research for my children’s books, I learned that what we’ve seen over the last forty or so years, since “civic education” as a funded subject fell out of the public school curriculum, is a decline in a sense of community, a turning inward that even the most ideologically opposed agree needs to change.

We are empirically less communal when we overlook the importance of civic education. There is a foundational aspect that requires thinking beyond what is immediately beneficial for you and your family, and considering the well-being of others outside of your immediate sphere.

I’ve been theorizing for awhile that civics is inherently social and emotional and now I feel like I’m actually living it.

That’s what civics means to me, and the simplicity of it is energizing. It’s something we can explain, even if imperfectly; practice for ourselves and model for our kids.

What does civics mean to you? I opened the comments and can’t wait to hear from you.

More soon,

Sarah