I'm Teaching: How to Do Politics With Your Friends: TPOT Edition
A Very-Online Section of MNY10: Intro to Abundance Politics
MNY10 is a virtual, four-week class that provides a basic introduction to the field of American politics, with emphasis on the local and state levels. This section focuses specifically on how TPOT might use this knowledge to begin playfully + joyously doing politics together. Yes, this is possible.
Summary class details:
Applications are open until Friday, July 14, at 5pm.
Class begins the week of Sunday, July 16
Class will meet either Sundays 2PM EST or Thursdays 7PM EST, depending on interest, for 4 total sessions. Each session will last one hour.
1-3 hours of homework a week
The class costs $180, which includes the paid version of this newsletter
Table of Contents:
A Preamble + Invitation by Andrew
The politics of abundance
Who should take the class
Class structure
Class expectations and etiquette
About your instructor
Class syllabus
Preamble + Invitation
So, a couple weeks ago I shared this:
Now it’s time to act on it.
and I are co-hosting a TPOT-specific class on the foundations of American Politics, with a bent toward Abundance.We want you (yes, YOU) to do politics with your friends. Y’know, just get the buddies together on the internet, and shitpost your way to a golden age.
Politics is not a bad word. Maintaining a functional civic society is the responsibility of citizens who can do so joyously, avoiding the twin failure modes of nihilism and anti-concrete, ivory-tower, utopian ideology (ayy lmao).
Good politics flows naturally from a good scene, and I think this scene should not be afraid to begin playing in the dirt. This is my invitation to learn a new and serious game together.
Everything below this line is a lightly edited version of Daniel’s original course announcement.
The politics of abundance
Abundance politics needs better education.1
But, contrary to what most might think, that doesn’t just mean knowing the organs of government, or even the law—although those are essential.
It means understanding the underlying cultural and memetic blocks that have prevented you (a smart and wonderful person) from entering the political realm up until now. Chief among these are the anti-politics meme and the anti-concreteness meme, although their siblings are legion.
Without understanding these forces, you will likely fail to successfully enter the political realm yourself, or inspire others to enter it.
So: I’m creating a class that directly addresses these forces. I’ll teach you what they are, how they manifest, and—by the end of the class—you’ll be well prepared to take The Foundations of New York (if you’re in NYC), or to start/join your own abundance working group wherever you are.
This is not a class of theory built on abstraction. It fundamentally orients you toward action, and toward understanding what kind of thing politics is. Is does not work the way you, or most people, think. Reality is stranger than fiction. The good news? It’s all learnable. And seeing the detail reveals beauty more often than you’d think.
Who should take the class?
When you think about politics, do you feel like you're on the outside looking in? Like there's no way into the arena?
This class is a general introduction to the field of American politics (with special emphasis on local and state) for anyone seeking to understand the nature of the field before diving in more deeply.
If you want to be more optimistic, informed, and agentic about politics—and to detect bullshit—take this class.
More people must understand the reality and political demands of abundance:
In order to create more citizens who build,
In order to courageously perpetuate the American experiment,
and in order to leave our progeny a practical, flourishing political inheritance.
Class structure
Applications are open until July 14th (5pm EST); they will be accepted on a rolling basis, and sooner is definitely better.
The details:
Meeting time: class will meet on Zoom once a week for one hour.
Structure: class will be structured as a seminar, not a lecture.
Class preparation: There will be readings and/or small class projects each week. Plan to allocate at least 1-3 hours a week for this work. Unlike the Foundations of New York, there is no final exam. But I encourage you to produce and do several things during the class that will move you forward politically.
Class participants will be added to a Maximum New York Discord server, which will be our primary mode of communication for coursework, office hours, and general discussion. There will be a code of conduct you need to review to join the Discord, similar to the class expectations and etiquette outlined in the next section.
The class costs $180, which includes future paid posts of this newsletter for the next year.
Class expectations and etiquette
The class is open to anyone who wants to improve the abilities of governments across America, with an end toward making America larger, more wealthy (both absolutely and per capita), more opportunity-rich, and more enjoyable for everyone. If those are your goals, you are welcome.
The classroom environment I encourage is one of exploration, curiosity, playfulness, and charity/tolerance; if you have dug-in political ideas, you need to let those go, at least for the duration of the class. We are here to learn how things work first and foremost, although larger questions of political philosophy absolutely come into play at various points. You should think about politics as a systems problem with no perfect solutions, but still plenty of good ones.
This class has two formal rules of etiquette that you must follow:
Politics is a good word, and a potentially beautiful thing. We are here to learn how to do government as friends, in a chill fashion, even while dealing with weighty issues.
No bullshitting, aka be concrete. We’re all here to learn together, but we’re doing it in a rigorous fashion. You must always strive to deeply understand the reality of governance that underpins your political thought.
About your instructor
Hello, my name is Daniel Golliher (goll- as in the gall, the nerve, and the audacity; iher- as in how they say “your” where I come from: Gol-yer). I’ve lived in New York City for 4+ years. Besides my writing, you can learn more about me on Twitter or my personal Substack. I’ve written a few books, play the piano and sax, enjoy all manner of physical fitness, and can’t wait to meet you.
I graduated from Harvard College in 2014 with a degree in Government2, and since then I’ve worked in the legal industry, a coffee shop, higher ed, the legal industry again, and now I dedicate my time to Maximum New York.
And Your TA
I’m Andrew Rose! You all know me from my Twitter, I’m sure, but I’m the “you can and should build a better society with your friends” guy! I spend most of my time building a community/campus called The Neighborhood NYC, with the aim of bringing 1000 Friendly, Ambitious, Nerds within walking distance of one another, because that intellectual cross-pollination is how Genius happens. I research great collaborations and scenes in history, so I might nurture and create the scenes I want to see in the world.
My professional career spans Software Engineering, Urbanism, Montessori, and general Startup-land — but I’m TAing this course because I fell in love with NYC Civics when I took Daniel’s course. Politics finally seemed like a game I wanted to play, and I wanted to share that joy with you.
Class Syllabus
The class will cover most of the themes presented below, although I will likely make alterations to order and emphasis depending on the class composition.
Session 1: Defining the nature and domain of American politics
The is/ought political trap
Affordances
Anti-concreteness meme
Anti-politics meme
Taking politics seriously
The government: local, state, special-purpose, and federal governments
The law: constitutional, statutory, administrative, case
Session 2: Political Capital Part 1
Political capital: what is it, how to get it
Laptop politics
Dirt Politics
The political realm as a group of friends, as a social club, as a vocation
The role of historical knowledge in contemporary politics (why learn history)
Session 3: Political Capital Part 2
Continuing with the previous topics of Part 1
Atlantis on the Hudson
Social technology
Politics in community, politics as an individual
Session 4: how to think about politics, how to discuss politics going forward
B-minus politics
Concreteness briefs
Political knowledge and effectiveness time horizons: how soon should you expect mastery, and in which ways?
The speed of building, government vs. private industry (there are surprises!)
Two two rules of etiquette for abundance politics:
Be concrete / no bullshitting (outcompete the anti-concreteness meme)
Politics is a good word (outcompete the anti-politics meme)
How to have a good time doing politics, even with weighty issues
The role and place of electoral politics (as opposed to governing politics)
Going from here: resources, readings, and networks
See the most recent course announcement for The Foundations of New York for elaboration on the problem and promise of abundance politics.