# How to engage in politics like a Stoic

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/practical-stoicism-4733608/how-to-engage-in-politics-like-a-stoic
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/practical-stoicism-4733608/how-to-engage-in-politics-like-a-stoic.md
Podcast: [Practical Stoicism](https://stenobird.com/podcast/practical-stoicism-4733608)
Published: 2026-06-12T10:50:00+00:00
Episode link: https://stoicism.captivate.fm/episode/how-to-engage-in-politics-like-a-stoic
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/87b81965-7c43-44b5-8fb1-f4a265d68cf4.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/practical-stoicism-4733608/episodes/how-to-engage-in-politics-like-a-stoic
Duration seconds: 1013

## Resource

Apply for private mentoring: https://tannerocampbell.com/apply Support my work: https://stoicismpod.com/members Subscribe to my newsletter: https://stoicbrekkie.com In this episode I'm tackling the thing nobody wants me to tackle: politics. Before you run away, I promise I'm not endorsing anyone or anything. What I'm interested in is how a Stoic engages politically, not who a Stoic votes for. I get into whether Stoics should vote at all (in most cases, yes, because Stoics are pro-social and voting is one way we attempt to benefit the human community), and I share why I've abstained from local US elections since leaving the country in 2023, and why I won't be voting in Scotland right away once we move there. I also spend a good chunk of this episode on how we talk about our neighbours who vote differently than we do. People assent to the choices they believe are appropriate for them, and flattening someone's reasons into "they must be stupid or evil" is both practically counterproductive and, drawing on Epictetus, deeply un-Stoic, because we cannot truly know the judgements and contexts of minds that aren't our own. From there I look at protest. The Stoic Opposition proved Stoics can stand against tyranny with real force, so protest isn't off the table, but the why matters more than the what. And finally I ask whether we've let politics become a pathos rather than a civic duty, an identity that crowds out our actual identity as Prokoptôn. Also in this episode: an update on Stoic Brekkie by Post (the 50-person beta filled up fast, thank you), and news that I'm building a little Stoicism educational video game, because apparently your Stoicism guy needed another creative outlet. Engage. It's your duty. But engage well. Thanks for listening. Mentioned in this episode: Work…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/practical-stoicism-4733608/episodes/how-to-engage-in-politics-like-a-stoic/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/practical-stoicism-4733608/how-to-engage-in-politics-like-a-stoic.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.