Keeping it local
One time, I was complaining to an acquaintance about the bruising nature of Lowell politics. He said something that has stayed with me, that in Lowell there are large numbers of people who have remained committed to the city and who really care about what happens here. He pointed out that the positive side of our often-heated and confrontational politics is that it is proof of people’s passion for the city.
On a 5-hour drive to Long Island, I had a lot of time to think, mostly about traffic, but also about how being sealed off in your own steel and glass cubicle while barreling down the highway gives driving an impersonal quality that, to my mind, leads to aggressive driving and incidents of road rage. Bear with me as I try to develop this thought to another level. Modern life gives us the ability to be very picky about whom we interact with. We can watch movies and exercise at home, and live and work in very different communities, never getting to know our neighbors beyond a passing wave; and on a political level, we can read the newspapers and magazines and listen to only those pundits whose views reinforce our own, creating an ideological shell similar to our automobiles. Thus, we all end up quoting our favored sources to each other and sealing our ears to the positions that others hold - the equivalent of cutting someone off at the light?
My point is that keeping it local is the only way out of the polarized debates that seem to have taken over our national politics. On the local level, partisan and ideological barriers break down somewhat, politics really does become personal. The person whose political views you dislike might serve on the PTO board with you or be in front of you in line at a downtown coffeeshop (I frequent them all so I don’t want to choose a favorite). I’m thinking in particular of Eileen Donoghue who, in 2004, donated money to the campaign of John Thibault, a close, personal friend as well as a Republican from Chelmsford (I know this is old news, but I’m a bit slow that way). Sometimes ties of friendship trump partisan politics; a Republican (gasp!) can be a good friend and a good citizen. This kind of compromising, of granting validity to the other person and by extension his or her views, can lead to something that is lacking on our highways and in modern life. It starts with engagement, and can lead to community.