|
The purpose of our program as we envision it is to
stimulate people to think about political involvement
more synthetically; in other words, to build on
President Obama's idea that focusing on health care,
education, green job creation/conservation,
transportation infrastructure (to name just a few
topics) is a team sport-- everyone's position has
integral value in moving us toward our goal.
Communities
stay vital and healthy when they resist linear thinking
-- the one thing at a time approach. We hope to foster
the notion that national, state, and local issues are
fully partnered concerns rather than distant, unrelated
issues. As one of our University of Virginia constitutional law professors
liked to put it, the most vital question for citizens to
consider with any topic is: 'who cares...does it
matter??' The
answer, now more than ever, is YES IT DOES.
We
look forward to hearing our guests discuss (among a wide
range of topics) the ways in which our national stimulus
program will advance ALL Virginia communities. In
particular, we are interested in their unique take on a
full range of green job possibilities, retraining, the
bank bailout, strategies for energy conservation,
potential for rail infrastructure city to city in
Virginia and town to town partnerships. Sister city
projects for sharing solutions is another thought that
intrigues us as well. Charlottesville's Mayor Dave
Norris-one of our first program guests- recently formed
a delegation from Charlottesville to our sister city in
Winneba, Ghana in order to investigate what people
abroad are doing to aid commerce, conservation, and job
recovery. We will hear his thoughts on that visit as
well as on a number of other relevant issues on an
upcoming episode.
The
program venue will be varied to include sitting
officials as well as prospective political candidates
holding and running for office at local, state and
national levels. We are seeking conversations with
private and public persons from a wide range of
backgrounds and experiences; the common denominator
being a passionate ongoing commitment to principled
political involvement. We believe that every individual
voice is of unique value and that no one voice should
therefore be privileged above that of another. Bedrock
political ideals and principles need not go out of
fashion however enticing or seductive it might be to err
on the side of well reasoned cynicism. It's an enjoyable
sport but in the end leaves the participant sidelined
and irrelevant...
So...
that said... let's play as well as we can. Politics
Matters...
Let
us hear from you ... Your ideas, your stories, your
concerns for your community, your state and for the
nation as a whole. Keep in mind that one of the original
meanings of the word "politics" includes the
phrase the "entire body of citizens".
People
ARE their Principles. Share yours with us and we can
listen together.
|
