A Preface to Politics — A PREFACE TO POLITICS

1. 1. The most incisive comment on politics today is indifference, which calls the political method itself into question.
2. 2. Reformers often deceive themselves by blaming public apathy, but the people are actually highly engaged with news, finance, and new ideas.
3. 3. Among artists, scientists, and philosophers, there is a tendency to make a virtue of political indifference, viewing intense political engagement as shallow.
4. 4. Many people cultivate political knowledge out of duty, but their real zest is for spontaneous human interests like following a charismatic leader.
5. 5. The author argues that statecraft may genuinely be uninteresting, and the public's indifference is a justified criticism of trivial and irrelevant reformist enthusiasm.
6. 6. Public affairs have enormous and intimate effects on lives, governing thinking and doing with subtlety, so politics' irrelevance is not due to unimportant subject matter.
7. 7. The book aims to sketch an attitude toward statecraft, not a legislative program, and is a beginning rather than a conclusion.