Mattering for Dummies

“Mattering” can mean two things. Some things matter ultimately: love, life, security, God — the big stuff. Ultimate mattering is the realm of religion and philosophy. It rarely intrudes into our daily political discourse.

The other kind of mattering is a scale that we use to ration our attention at a given time. When things matter, we pay attention to them. We use our time, our intellectual energy, and our emotional reserves…