The word that came to mind when I was deciding the message I wanted to deliver and how I was going to deliver it was "aristoi." You can tell I'm a bit off already since I have random Attic Greek words chewing in my brain. (Thank you Dr. Sweet, of University of Dallas fame.)
"Aristoi" is the Greek word that Aristotle used to identify the "best persons" who deserved power over government. In his view, the government was neither a business association to maximize wealth (as the oligarchs suppose) nor an agency to promote liberty and equality (as the democrats maintain).
If I haven't lost you already...good. Because I believe that we all have aristoi inside us, but only when we fully invest ourselves - only when we make a full contribution to the political community by holding our tongues before we speak and commit to leaving our spin jackets at the door.
What's going to follow will be my perspective on what I'm reading, researching, watching, and listening to in modern American politics. Dissenting views are welcomed, but I have no problem scything comments that scrape the bottom of the barrel.
Personally, I'd prefer if people avoided using the following terms:
liberal, conservative, republicans, democrats.
Seriously. I know you think I'm crazy, but the only time those terms are ever used are to lump groups of people together for convenience - and it's about as surgically precise as a rusty spork. I'm sure we'll comment on extreme positions of extreme commentators, but I'm not going to chase rabbits into the briarpatch by calling people idiots or other such insults that seem to be the currency of the current blogosphere. I'm going to attempt to stay on point with their ideas, but not broad swaths of characterization of the people themselves.
Ok. That's it. Tune in, turn on, and think clearly before you type. I'll try to do the same.
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