Hillary Clinton is right. Well, partly right. Her characteristic disregard for personal freedom and her instinctive love of the nanny state lead her to say that no one can sit on the sidelines. That’s wrong. In a liberal society that respects the private sphere, citizens can choose to stay off the playing field of politics. Indeed, some should do so. Many of our great national achievements come from individuals staying far from the madding political crowd, and deciding instead to engage in business enterprises, or to strive for manifold forms of intellectual or artistic greatness, or to engage in an array of nonpolitical activities that manifest human decency and even nobility.

But Clinton is right in this respect. If you’re already engaged in public life—in particular, if you’re a conservative, if you care about the Constitution and about your country—you shouldn’t be on the sidelines at this moment of national crisis. In this year’s election control of the Senate is at stake, and with it the ability of Congress to mitigate the further damage the Obama administration will seek to do in its final two years.