Making changes to our local communities such that previously disadvantaged people are more empowered and their is better socio-economic justice is noble, and especially popular in the current news cycle, but let's not pretend that it is the full extent of politics.

There are issues like the environment, national security, social policy, fiscal policy, etc which all have substantial influence on us both as individuals and as a nation. Different people should champion different issues, and it makes a lot more sense for the people directly affected by issues to champion solutions which make sense for them.

I as an affluent white male do not understand, and likely can never perfectly understand, the issues of racism that harm people of color living just a few minutes away from me. While I want my neighbors to be free of those problems, I can't possibly evaluate which solutions work for them and which do not, and I would have no way of knowing if my efforts to help were doing more harm than good.

On the other hand, as an engineer who works on automation, I am extremely well qualified to evaluate the effects of economic policies on changes to the labor environment due to automation. Living in the rust belt, I feel I can do a lot to help rejuvenate my community as well as the larger nation, but that process looks very different. It's still political involvement though.

In a democratic society, getting large numbers of people to understand issues and support candidates who advocate for those issues is a key step towards any systemic change. Political discussion is an effective tactic towards this end. It's certainly not the only tool out there, and in many cases its not the right tool, but it's vital all the same.