A Message For the New Congress

[Requested by Deborah]

I tried to think of what my agenda is for the new Congress, what I want to communicate to them...and I realized I don't have one. Don't have anything particular in mind. Nothing to say.

Truth be told, I don't think it's all that important.

I know this isn't a popular position, but as far as I'm concerned badgering elected officials is just about the least important thing bloggers do. Most of the time it has no effect; when it does have an effect, it isn't necessarily positive. It's a cart-before-the-horse type deal, you see.

I think what we do can be important. The important thing we can do is change the culture. We can change the terms of discussion. We can give people talking points, articulate the things they believe but don't really have good arguments for. These are things that can be changed from the ground up.

Politicians: not courageous. Not generally, anyway. The courageous ones don't generally get to be politicians. Pushing them to do the right thing doesn't make a whole lot of sense if the right thing is unpopular. But it's right, you say. Well, yeah. Convince the rest of America. Then go talk to your representative.

So while I may have a lot to say...on this point, at least, I got nothing to say.

[That's all, folks]