About this blog
This blog is hosted by the Charlottesville Democratic Party as a site for news and comment about National and Virginia politics from the perspective of Democrats in Central Virginia. The opinions in any given post are those of the author and the author alone — they do not reflect any official party position, and they are not made in furtherance of any particular political agenda, although one could fairly expect that posts would track pretty closely with the party’s generally progressive outlook on the issues of the day and, of course, will be supportive of the party’s candidates.
Supportive does not mean reflexively uncritical. Blogs don’t work if they are not honest.
As for rules regarding comments, there are none, beyond a request for civility and a request that you refrain from using profanity unless it is necessary to your point.
I am a free agent and a volunteer to this gig, so I am not beholden to the Democratic Party in any way. As you know, Virginia does not require party registration, but I would classify myself as a lifelong Democrat. As a kid, I remember stuffing envelopes for George McGovern in 1972, but I did that mainly to impress a girl. Still, my politics emerged from an adolescence marked by my mother’s adoring memories of Franklin Roosevelt, the battles of the 1960s on racial equality and the war in Vietnam, and the assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK. I was too young to really participate, but old enough to be affected.
By the time Nixon and Watergate rolled around, my progressive outlook was fairly decided, even if it became tinged with cynicism.
The Bush years have really disgusted me, and my work here and on other blogs represents a desire to be involved in the issues of the day, and a renewed belief on my part that, thanks to the Internet, we as individuals can make more of a difference in the past through the power of expressing ideas, if we so choose.
We ended up with Bush, in part, because our media utterly failed us. It continues to do so. The political reporters and commentators on television and in the pages of the nation’s and state’s mainstream media focus too often on the sideshow and spectacle of politics, rather than the substance. Is it any wonder we elected George Bush in 2000, who will go down in history as one of the worst president ever, because people thought they would prefer to have a beer with him than with Al Gore?
They say in a Democracy you get the leaders you deserve. I think that is true.
We can do better.
Best,
Alan Zimmerman (aznew)