On Politics

I’m working on my post about last nights art shows (I was too sick to finish it last night), but I just saw something and felt compelled to respond here.

There are people who don’t think you are a serious blogger, or a serious person, unless you’re talking politics. The reason I don’t blog politics is because I’m not a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Conservative, Liberal, Fascist, or Socialist. I’m a well reasoned, thoughtful individual with complex ideas and motivations and so are you. Political ideas are not adequately expressed in the sort of Fox/CNN soundbites we get force fed through the television daily and they are not going to get adequately expressed in a blog unless I take to writing political manifestos of sufficient length that I know damned well nobody is going to take the time to read. I'm not apolitical, I just refuse to pander to any constituency, feeding them easily digestible bits in hopes that they'll agree with me.

There’s a reason people still talk about the Lincoln-Douglas debates a hundred and fifty years later. That’s how it should be done; two people hashing it out until they’ve thoroughly explored the subject… not just until the next commercial break. Politics done well takes time and effort and a commitment from all parties in the conversation and to intellectual honesty and integrity. Real debates often change minds and the people participating have to be open to that. I know I’m asking a lot in this day and age, but I believe that there are people out there who are up to the task. I’ve been lucky enough to meet one or two. I’m not dismissing the public sphere entirely, but I have yet to find a political blog that really takes on national politics in a way that isn’t “talking point v. talking point.”

On the plus side, the Memphis OPML project I’m working on is introducing me to a number of blogs that are covering the local political scene fairly well. They’re doing a much better than the newspapers and television (not that either of those is setting a particularly high bar). I’m not seeing so much of the “here’s what to think,” and more of the “this is whose running and here’s what I see.” If you haven’t worked it out yet, I respect that kind of thinking.