Princeton University’s Melissa Harris-Lacewell has just admitted that she’s starting an “Obama Inauguration diet” of “low-fat politics,” which includes a concerted effort to “trim excess partisanship” from her own social and political views. It is a laudable declaration from an incredibly sophisticated political scientist.
Just seeing how much we’ve all been sparring across ideological/partisan lines here (in the comments to people’s Chronicle Brainstorm posts), I think that many of us probably need to consider some version of Harris-Lacewell’s program. Whenever I catch a glimpse of my political self in the mirror at certain canted angles, I can see that I have still some very real fat — of ideological/partisan narrow-mindedness — to burn.
Of course, there is no reason to think that weaning ourselves off of knee-jerk partisan politicking is easy — or, to here some tell it, even desirable. The call itself might seem like a plea for so-called “moderate”/lukewarm political positions.
Most folks would probably dig in their heels and maintain that any compromise on their political principles (any serious consideration of alternative perspectives, or splitting of the differences between political camps) is a kind of Faustian pact with the status quo. In some cases it probably is just that. But in others, it might mean the chance to journey together down a road we’ve never traveled before — to a place we’ve never been.
As I write this, I’m also listening to an update on the price of oil, $139 today (up about $10 or $11 since yesterday, the highest jump in one day that anyone can remember). We might really need to productively put all of our heads together if we want to figure out how to deal with these truly unprecedented economic times. We might really need to get postpartisan if we want to figure out how best to deal with the long, hot, and expensive summer in store for most of us.
