Rational Non-Activism
Ye have heard it said that sortition can overcome Rational Ignorance, but I say unto you that until Activism is Rational, nothing much is gonna change.
(PSA: Talking Tariffs Tuesdays should resume its regularly scheduled programming tonight, as in, I’ll be live at 6 pm PDT on Twitch.tv/LandValueTaxMax reading George’s book)
The Equality by Lot blog is great. They keep their posts short and sharp. Here’s their most recent: https://equalitybylot.com/2025/08/12/anti-sortition-attitudes/.
They describe five attitudes that dispose people against sortition.
1. Conservatism (deference to status quo)
2. Elitism (regular people are idiots while career politicians have know-how)
3. Suspicion of manipulation (the system’s always rigged no matter what)
4. Dogmatism (“democracy” must include elections or something)
5. Self-serving expert privilege (similar to “Elitism”, a belief in rule by experts, just “get the adults in the room”)
You can mix and match these attitudes, of course. There’s one more attitude that has been prevalent in my experience.
I call it…
Rational Non-Activism
And that’s you, my friend. And there’s no need to ask me for forgiveness, for I’m not sure you have sinned.
(Ok, there’s definitely a number of people reading this who are activists. I ask for your forgiveness for a generalization.)
Rational Non-Activism is not an attitude that is pro- or anti- a cause or preference for something rather than the cause, either for something else or for the status quo. It is a belief that efforts to implement change will fail. Advocacy is a waste of time.
I don’t have a compelling argument for why most of my friends should become activists. Sure, there’s something like “you should care about society”, but really, being a good husband/wife/father/mother/brother and working a productive job and driving the speed limit and consuming and creating art and playing sports/games (which mutually enriches all competitor’s lives) is something that can’t be exported, something that can’t be faked, and has a kind of basic beauty that only poets can capture.
For me, unmarried and unjobbed, activism makes sense. I get a lot of social value from attending events. I’ve always been interested in political economy and argumentation. And finally, my dad doesn’t charge me rent!
So, go in peace, dear reader.
I ask but one thing…
If, with our lifetime, a time comes where the coordination problem is solved. Or society is teetering on the edge of a knife…If it becomes rational for us to pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor…Remember sortition and the land value tax.
Yours truly,
Max
P.S. It also wouldn’t hurt that, if you ever dare to talk politics in your lovely life, that you ask your interlocutor their thoughts on replacing elections with randomly selected groups. Or replacing an income tax with a lax on the unimproved value of land (the Land Value Tax).
It can actually be fun. Spreading these ideas within trusted networks may work to pile many straws upon the back of tyranny. Maybe we’ll be there when it breaks, maybe we won’t.