Judge the Outcome, Not the Jersey

Somewhere along the way, a lot of us started following politics the way we follow sport. You pick a side, you wear the colours, and from then on your team is right when they win and robbed when they lose. The other mob is the problem, full stop.

It feels like engagement. It’s actually the opposite. Once you’ll defend your side no matter what they do, you’ve handed them a blank cheque — and the surest way to get taken for a ride is to support someone who knows they’ve already got your vote.

Tribalism is a feature, not a bug

Be honest about who benefits when politics becomes tribal. Not you. A tribal voter is a cheap voter. You don’t have to deliver for them; you just have to keep the other side scary enough that they stick with you out of fear. Outrage is easier to manufacture than results, and a lot cheaper.

The whole machine — the talking points, the us-versus-them framing, the manufactured fury at whatever today’s villain is — runs better when you’re emotional and loyal than when you’re calm and demanding. Tribalism keeps you loud and keeps you compliant at the same time. That’s a useful combination if you’re the one being criticised.

The questions that cut through

I’ve found a few questions strip the jersey off pretty fast:

• Did it actually work? Not “did they say the right things” — did the thing they were responsible for get better or worse for ordinary people?
• Would I accept this from the other side? If your lot did exactly what you’re furious about the others doing, would you still be furious? If not, you’re doing tribe, not principle.
• Who’s getting squeezed? Rent, the grocery bill, the wait for care, the wage that doesn’t stretch — these are real and measurable. Judge by them, not by vibes.

None of these care what colour the tie is. That’s the point.

Cost of living doesn’t check your enrolment

The pressures most people are actually feeling — housing, the cost of a normal week, whether the kids will do better than you did — don’t sort themselves by party. They’re just real. A leader who eases them deserves credit whatever their colour, and one who doesn’t deserves the question regardless of yours.

The day I stopped asking “is this my side?” and started asking “is this any good?” was the day politics got more useful and a lot less exhausting. You stop being a fan and start being a citizen — harder to please, harder to fool.

Be hard to manage

Here’s the practical upshot. The most powerful thing an ordinary voter can be is genuinely up for grabs. Not cynical, not checked-out — available. Willing to give credit across the aisle and withhold it from your own side. Loyal to outcomes instead of colours.

That kind of voter can’t be taken for granted, which means they have to be earned. And politicians who have to earn your vote behave very differently from politicians who already own it. Take the jersey off. Watch the scoreboard instead.