Sane Voices

I just love intelligent, thoughtful, sane voices. James Fallows is one of those voices. I don't know the man personally, he lives a more international life than I have ever had the opportunity to live (though I have traveled way more than Sarah Palin--sorry, couldn't help it), and he is a member of the "elite" media (and I don't mean that word "elite" to be pejorative in any way: I'm all for an elite. well-educated, and humble corps of writers and leaders in this country). But over the years I've enjoyed reading James Fallows' writing in a number of publications. I now read his blog at The Atlantic. Here's a link to today's posting which cheered me up, and I'm not quite sure why it did: "If campaigns are driving you crazy."

Maybe I'm cheered because although the public discourse right now seems to be absolutely stupid, focused on the most trivial details and the most outrageous lies, there are people who still think truth matters and try to suss out truth in the best ways they know how. They listen to other thoughtful and intelligent people and adjust their judgments and views to accommodate what they have learned rather than repeating over and over the trite and partisan phrases that resound in their own heads. Listen to Terri Gross interview Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University and a retired Army colonel, (the link is there on Fallows' post and here), who lost his son in Iraq. You might well ask: why aren't our presidential nominees listening to this guy?