Welcome to Letters from a Charlottesville Grocery Store Clerk
Welcome to Letters from a Charlottesville Grocery Store Clerk.
When I became interested in politics in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I had so many friends of different political stripes. I also recall that, among the parents of my friends and classmates, a whole host of husbands and wives lived on opposite sides of the political divide. Since then, the self-sorting and echo chambers have grown, and to say that our civic discourse has become angry is an understatement. When we don’t converse with our political opponents, our political opponents become our political enemies. As anger and enmity builds, the foundations of American democracy crumble.
I’ve always worked hard to encounter different points of view, and this has led me to change my opinions on a whole host of issues, including climate change, gay marriage, and the child tax credit. It has led me to support presidential candidates like Al Gore in 2000 and George W. Bush four years later. It led me to back a Republican for president in 2012, an Independent in 2016, and a Democrat in 2020.
My goal in writing this newsletter isn’t necessarily to change minds. It is to offer perspectives on a range of issues in hopes that it will spark conversation and a desire to read about the issues even more.
In the meantime, tell your friends!