Your Humble Blogger keeps intending to write a post inspired by one or another of Mark Shmitt’s posts at his magnificent blog, the Decembrist. I suppose it’s a flaw in his wonderful essays that they don’t leave me feeling I have much to add, but that’s a flaw I can live with. I wouldn’t want to live without the essays, though. The Decembrist is a partisan political blog which doesn’t give much space to vindictiveness or to sneering. When he criticizes the Republicans, which he does, he does so seriously, to point out serious disagreements with their policies and more often with their legislative methods. Mr. Shmitt believes in legislation, he believes in representative democracy, and he believes in deliberation. His essays are historically informed, and they are also informed by a substantial amount of personal experience on the Hill and in civic life.
If I had to pick a blogger to represent me in Congress, it would be him. Not because I agree with him on every issue (heck, he doesn’t speak on every issue), but because he, of all the bloggers I read, takes legislation seriously and would do a good and responsible job. If you aren’t looking for a congressman, that’s not much of a recommendation for a blogger. If you want to read two or three very good short essays a week, I think you are better off putting the Decembrist on your RSS than subscribing to the American Prospect.
Thank you,
-Vardibidian.