All politics is local

There is something to the axiom "all politics is local".

I discovered how true that axiom is through my essays. My essays talk in broad terms about the political landscape of the world. However, most people think more locally, in terms of what is happening in their lives. They are more concerned about how things affect their world, not the larger world. One reader wrote that though my holistic thoughts about the world make sense she really didn't care because it was all she could do to keep body and soul together without being bogged down with world affairs. And that is how it is for most of us, just making it through the day. One thing I discovered is that I elicit more interest from readers if I touch on issues that directly affects them - things they can immediately identify with.

To understand some of my grand ideas about the world readers often put them into a context that relates to them. They put it into the context of how they see things and what affects them personally. I wrote an essay on the coexistence of democracy and capitalism and said I believe their togetherness means that neither can survive without the other. I thought I was pretty non-ideological with my argument. However, people often read things with preconceptions and project them onto what they are reading. For instance, I mentioned the word 'capitalism' and some readers immediately saw red and think of greed because that is how they are programed. Initially I am thrown off guard by such views but I understand where they're coming from and I also know that whatever I say will not change minds. Also, from that kind of response I feel a bit inadequate because I feel there is something I haven't been communicating because people have interpreted me wrong, as being too rosy about the world, which isn't true.

The next two paragraphs are a response to a reader who I believe thinks I have put too rosy a spin on things. He puts his concerns in the context of his locality, America. He feels that the America he knows and hopes for is fading away, due to the mean spirited politics that have enveloped it recently. I didn't think I was going to make him feel any better but I wanted to clarify some thing about what he may have interpreted. I wanted to show him I am less political and ideological than I think he thought I was.

This is what I wrote in response:

I am going to say what first comes to mind after reading your letter. I am sure you've heard it before: We live in the best possible world. However, in saying that I am not being an apologist. Overall, I see humanity as "red in tooth and claw" . Though that redness has been tempered and modified over the centuries, it nevertheless keeps popping up. Greed is one of those inherent traits that keeps popping and will never be completely eradicated. Humankind in always a work in progress. It will never be completed or perfected. It will always have faults and imperfections that need putting down and taming. And if there is a meaning to life, I think it is about keeping vigil and managing the beast. I think that on the whole and under the circumstances humankind is doing the best it can. However, that doesn't mean we can't do better or that we shouldn't try harder. We still require a lot of work and it happens incrementally - two steps forward, one step back . Part of the problem is that humankind is always shifting and never staying still. There is always something new, new variables, new situations, new people. The message, as the message about greed, often has to be repeated and relearned.

I've wondered why I have a positive view of the world while some other don't. (It's not so much that I am positive but pragmatic- dangerous notion in some circles.) I believe it has to do with things like circumstance and the combination of nurture/nature. If I had been born under different circumstances, had different parents or my mother had a different attitude when she was carrying me I may have seen the world differently. I see how chancy it can be as to who we become when I look at my sister who is rather negative about humankind, as was my father.

Perhaps I will not win any arguments or convert anybody with what I say. However, that's not really my point. It's more like an exercise. I am comfortable in what I believe and my main objective is to make my argument clear so a least people can understand and agree or disagree with it. I cherish views like yours because they keep me grounded and from straying into a "Pollyanna" world.