There’s some sentiment amongst the intellectual class that we are beyond getting our hands dirty in the practice of realist politics. That someway, somehow, the pure beauty and force of ideas are sufficient to realise them materially.

I do not write this with any intent to push you towards particular some political ends, only as a warning that this sentiment is misaligned with empirical evidence of how the world works.

There are two blurred classes of political practice. One more transitory where you hold up a sign, write an op-ed, sign a few petitions and be done with it. The other significantly more grueling and dirty practice of accumulation of power through your life, where you compromise with the unsavory again and again.

When the change you want matters at all to the world, the realist position is to realise that this latter version of politics is what you need to practice constantly throughout your life. There has never been another way anything that mattered societally ever got done.

We are at a particular time where the intellectual class has particular potential to sway the allocation of resources in the world, yet as a class which works with ideas, a lot of us seem allergic to practicing the latter version of politics because it’s much dirtier than the realm of ideas.

We are also at a time where particular ideas about the effects of technological progress, which has given our class sway over resources, have massive variance in how it plays out for all humans. If you truly believe in the importance of some specific good outcome, it’s probably quite a good time to accumulate and leverage power in an attempt to shape the world in your version of good.

What I’ve just said is not me telling you to lie, not lie, steal, not steal, or to have or not have some other paper clip maximising utilitarian approach to this. What I’ve just said does not intend to prescribe any particular moral framework onto you.

Just be warned that the world you create, whether you intend to or not, will reflect the means you used to shape it. Now, I do also personally oppose a lot of anti-human utilitarian means (and hope that you do too).

This realist form of political practice is as old as humanity itself. Through it we have come quite far, and through it there is much more to go.

I certainly do not prescribe that everyone start doing this by entering institutional politics or founding a company, or something else entirely, but if you have it in you, and you also have some ideas about how the world should be, it’s probably quite a good time.

Please do not be ashamed of accumulating and wielding power. Competition between interests has always been what’s shaped progress. Even if you fail, you would have participated in a great human tradition. It is very much a pivotal time to enter the ring. Would you rather increase the chances of outcomes you feel are good, or would you rather feel good about not participating?