Well, to be fair, to "be a thing" is not equivalent to "exist". In this context, I guess that "be a thing" means, "be something people do in their spare time,

Well, to be fair, to "be a thing" is not equivalent to "exist". In this context, I guess that "be a thing" means, "be something people do in their spare time, even when not strictly required to because its forced upon them in their role as politician/whatever."