In the last two weeks, I have received four text messages from Professor of Neuroscience Sam Wang’s congressional campaign. These texts took up 70 lines in iMessage — more extensive than even my grandmother’s voice-typed paragraphs — to ask me for money.
Wang is one of 17 candidates running for the Democratic nomination in N.J.-12, the congressional district in which the University sits. I am not registered to vote in Princeton, and I’m more invested in politics in my home district. I don’t have the desire to contribute money to a primary candidate outside my district. And I certainly didn’t sign up to receive announcements from any campaign. I’d imagine a majority of Princeton students feel similarly.
I suppose I could have replied “STOP” and removed myself from the list, but regardless of how and why my name and phone number were added to Wang’s contact list, the texts inappropriately demand disproportionate attention to the N.J.-12 primary.
A crowded race where any one voter’s preferred candidate is extremely unlikely to win isn’t the best outlet for our limited political energies; the attention on this primary doesn’t mean it deserves a monopoly over our political consciousness. Instead, we should focus on being effective constituents of the polities to which we belong: Princeton’s campus and our home districts.
Our optimal political engagement will manifest as a convergence of our true passions and interests with the issues and regions where we have the best chance of making an impact. For certain local and interested students, that golden mean might be the N.J.-12 primary. But that won’t be true for most Princetonians. As we build our schedules and select our priorities, we must not let long and sensationalized text messages or any amount of ‘Prince’ coverage convince us that it is so.
There are far more effective means of political advocacy and opportunities to speak directly on the local issues we care about to a community who will listen.
Publishing — on campus or beyond — about the impacts of budget cuts, protesting to raise awareness on campus about Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and engaging in dialogue to enrich your own and your opposite’s perspectives can all impact the political playing field of the campus we share. Even working with the incumbent N.J.-12 representative, who already holds an actual position of influence, to inform policy is far more effective than contributing to a candidate with a one in 17 — granted, unweighted — chance to hold office .
Excessive discussion of the N.J.-12 primary — admittedly a fun election to which we can personally connect — is the same kind of political junk food as that which our social media algorithms feed us, clogging our systems and distracting us from more substantive priorities. Just as we must look beyond the echo chambers of our Instagram feeds or avoid losing our sense of fun in Princeton’s academic pressure cooker, we must not allow heightened discussion and reporting, the candidacy of a Princeton professor, or even excessively long text messages to distract us from our more substantive political engagement.
To clarify, I’m not suggesting that Princeton students should be politically apathetic. In fact, I think it’s extremely important for us to show up to political debates and engage with a range of complicated views. But I draw a distinction between worthwhile and trivial engagement.
That worthwhile engagement does not look the same for everyone. I seek opportunities to build bridges across differences, whether through debate, writing, or a spontaneous conversation in the ‘Prince’ newsroom. Others prefer protest and political organizing. And others still find canvassing for a candidate to be most fulfilling. None of these methods are more or less important than others. But no matter what your stylistic predilection is, you can’t fight every battle; it is difficult to find time to engage with our political passions amidst our myriad responsibilities.
N.J.-12 is not a swing district, the candidates are not of special renown and the race concerns candidates who should be far more accountable to the over 700,000 N.J.-12 constituents than to University students transplanted from their home districts.
Of course, there are implications of Professor Wang’s candidacy that are particular to his role as a member of University faculty, and these might be of interest to our community. To discourage any disproportionate attention to the N.J.-12 campaign on our campus is certainly not to undermine the value of local politics. Indeed, the recent “ICE Out” protest responded, partially, to ICE’s presence in the Town. Furthermore, Princeton’s congressional representative may be more likely to defend higher education than any of our home district’s representatives. Especially in today’s climate, advocating for our educational experience through our legislative channels is especially important.
For those of us not voting in N.J.-12 and not particularly passionate about any of the candidates, let’s focus on issues and races that we know more intimately, and where our impact can be more deeply felt. Rather than writing about or canvassing for a candidate in N.J.-12, get involved with the election for your district’s congressional seat and work on behalf of a candidate who is more beholden to your interests than whoever N.J.-12 elects. Focus on on-campus advocacy or organizing through one of Princeton’s many student groups. If, after all of that, you still have the capacity to invest in N.J.-12, by all means go ahead. But if you’re going to choose one cause that commands your time and attention, don’t let it be the N.J.-12 primary.
Ian Rosenzweig is an assistant Opinion editor and prospective SPIA major from Bryn Mawr, Pa. He likes following elections just as much as the next guy — if not more — but would rather spend his time getting something real done. You can reach him at ir2411[at]princeton.edu.
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