I just sent this to a local political mailing list, but think it serves as a good explanation of why I focus on Dryden politics and not on the usual national issues that people think of as "politics":
Maybe I'm unique, having concluded that national politics is largely how people distract themselves from the more immediate impact they could have in local and state politics, but I don't see [being less than interested in fights between candidates for president] as a dire problem for our civic culture.
I'd rather focus on the massive cleanup job our country faces after eight years of a concerted assault on our civic culture than on the relatively minor differences between the Democratic candidates.
Yes, I slightly prefer Edwards, then Obama, then Richardson, then Clinton. No, I don't think it's "trivializing" to say that the differences are less important than the similarities.
That's probably as much as I'll ever write here on national politics. I have hope that they'll improve, but it's just as important to me - or even more important, since so many people only seem to pay attention to national politics - to focus on what happens locally, in conversations where I can have a direct impact.
I have this crazy vision that if people focus on what works best in their local community, the good ideas (and people, eventually) might percolate upward. We can all be players in local politics. Let's make that work.
Posted by simon at November 13, 2007 10:51 AM in politics (national) , why