You don't NEED to do anything, but consensus game theory is ultimately economic in nature.
Knotzis won't be able to push miners into doing their bidding unless they have sufficient economic power to ...
I ami'm confused by the phrase "economic conviction". My node is lighter to run, and costs me nothing to change clients. I relay the transactions that make sense to me, and I encourage others to do the same. If nobody follows me, then the rest of the network can have clogged mempools that need a plunger. Keep in mind, I don't even have to run a node in the first place. It's a volunteer system.