A little perspective.
I got an e-mail from a fellow (non-political) blogger yesterday, in which the writer pointed out that we’re on opposite ends of the political spectrum, indicating that perhaps this might be a problem for me. I suspect that I’m inferring more than was implied, but this is a recurring theme in my life. I often encounter people who, knowing a little about me, feel compelled to point out to me that they are Republican. This often done with a little doubt, a measure of concern, even a tone of confession. Not because they have a problem with being Republican, of course, but because I am a Democrat.
For those who do not know me, this may sound strange: politics ain’t that important to me. Political affiliation is even less important. You will never hear me refer to “GOoPers” or “rethugs.” I’m not holding back — I just don’t think in these terms. I do not view Republicans as enemies. You are not a Jew and I a Nazi. Not only are we two individuals with a common goal (a better world), but — and this may come as a shock to some — there’s a great deal going on in life that is not politics.
I began blogging about Virginia politics a few years ago for one simple reason: nobody else was. I sat down for lunch with the Sorensen Institute’s Sean O’Brien sometime in 2002, if memory serves, and told him that I thought there’d be value in creating a cvillenews.com-style site about state politics. I figured it would be useful. So I did it.
If I stopped blogging about Virginia politics tomorrow, I wouldn’t be sad. There is a large, vital Virginia political blogging community. If Saturday’s Summit on Blogging and Democracy in the Commonwealth goes well, my self-assigned role as community busybody will be obviated, and I may no longer serve a particularly useful role in this particular community. This isn’t a threat to bail on blogging about Virginia politics — I have no such plans — but merely an attempt to describe the role that it plays in my life. I wanted there to be a blog about Virginia politics. Now we have sixty. Mission accomplished. My interests may wander away from politics in the future, and I feel good that nothing will be lost if I do so.
What excites me — what I really enjoy blogging about — are the structures of community. Laws are one such structure. Customs are another. Politics (which bridge customs and law) are yet another. There are the structures that permit us to communicate and form community. Blogs are one. The Thomas Jefferson Center’s chalkboard is another. More specifically still, Flickr, blog aggregators, and community WiFi are digital structures that enable and create community.
I’ve chosen to blog about politics, from my perspective as a Democrat, for the past couple of years. But that’s not who I am; it doesn’t define me. And that’s only one small piece of what is, for me, likely to define what I do for the rest of my life — studying the mechanisms and structures that form community and determining how we can use them and modify them for the betterment of us all.
So don’t confess that you’re a Republican. It’s not a problem for you, and it’s not a problem for me. We can talk about baseball, human migration patterns in Indonesia, linguistics, R.E.M. or long-distance backpacking. We can even talk about politics, if you want. You like the Royals, I like the Red Sox; you are a Republican, I’m a Democrat. There’s more to life.
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