No, not this one. I don’t think there was anything I wanted to say that would have been harmful enough to turn the Eye of Sauron(*) upon me.
there are costs imposed directly on you/people-close-to-you (i.e. stress)
Nah, any stress would have been a tertiary effect from...
you’d lose support from your political allies that you need to accomplish anything
This was the big one. I was already a black sheep when I got voted into office; I had negative amounts of political capital within my party. I had to focus a ton of energy into being likable, which largely means seeming similar to your target audience, and choosing my battles very carefully, which means keeping my mouth shut by default.
A related thing I’m wondering is whether you considered anything like “going out with a bang”, where you tried… just not self-censoring, and… probably losing the next election and some supporters in the meanwhile but also heaving some rocks through the overton window on your way out.
No. I spent the last 9 months of my final year planning on becoming a lobbyist, which meant I had to maintain my reputation up in Concord.
One other thing that would have kept me from “going out with a bang” was that I was very aware of my status as the only EA-identified elected official in the world. I knew my actions could potentially reflect back on the movement and affect other people who wanted to run for office in the future.
That status also ties back into the motivation of keeping my options open; I didn’t (and don’t) know what the future holds, and I don’t know what will be needed of me.
why more politicians don’t just say “Screw it I’m saying what I really think” shortly before retiring
I think this is due to a few different things...
they also want to retain optionality (a big one)
they care about their reputation for its own sake
they don’t want to harm the future work of any allies who were closely related to them
why toss a grenade when the benefits are uncertain and amorphous?
most of them don’t have significant contrarian opinions that they’ve been holding back, because the political process selects for the most mainstream people and the people who are most comfortable doing what their party leadership requires of them. The most Republican of Republicans, the most Democratic of Democrats.
(*) Edit to clarify for a friend’s question: the Eye of Sauron in this metaphor would be the party structure deciding to find a primary challenger, not the voters themselves.
No, not this one. I don’t think there was anything I wanted to say that would have been harmful enough to turn the Eye of Sauron(*) upon me.
Nah, any stress would have been a tertiary effect from...
This was the big one. I was already a black sheep when I got voted into office; I had negative amounts of political capital within my party. I had to focus a ton of energy into being likable, which largely means seeming similar to your target audience, and choosing my battles very carefully, which means keeping my mouth shut by default.
No. I spent the last 9 months of my final year planning on becoming a lobbyist, which meant I had to maintain my reputation up in Concord.
One other thing that would have kept me from “going out with a bang” was that I was very aware of my status as the only EA-identified elected official in the world. I knew my actions could potentially reflect back on the movement and affect other people who wanted to run for office in the future.
That status also ties back into the motivation of keeping my options open; I didn’t (and don’t) know what the future holds, and I don’t know what will be needed of me.
I think this is due to a few different things...
they also want to retain optionality (a big one)
they care about their reputation for its own sake
they don’t want to harm the future work of any allies who were closely related to them
why toss a grenade when the benefits are uncertain and amorphous?
most of them don’t have significant contrarian opinions that they’ve been holding back, because the political process selects for the most mainstream people and the people who are most comfortable doing what their party leadership requires of them. The most Republican of Republicans, the most Democratic of Democrats.
(*) Edit to clarify for a friend’s question: the Eye of Sauron in this metaphor would be the party structure deciding to find a primary challenger, not the voters themselves.