Many of you know I have spent years in partisan politics. At times the partisan work gets to be too much for me. At the core, I am a community builder with a political opinion. But community is first. Community includes diverse views. I recently have had several observations through my work:
- The debate is often set by the politicians and the media before the people get a word in;
- The soundbites filter down to the people and the debate becomes filled with landmines/buzzwords;
- Real day-to-day matters on peoples minds are NOT being heard;
- We most likely agree on more of these day-to-day issues than the 30,000ft level political talk from the capitol.
I am a bleeding heart liberal with very close friends who are ultra conservative. We have a great friendship despite these issues. Why? Because we respect each others point of view and are NOT trying to prove each other wrong. Just listen to each other for different perspectives.
In the spirit of this, I have asked several of my Twitter friends to join me in a blog of peoples opinions of any or all issues they feel important. So I created www.voicesofarizona.com last weekend. In the first 48 hours we had over 1,000 hits, over 36 comments, and even some local media attention.
Thank you friends for helping fill it with great content and GREAT comments! Now the people have a voice void of partisan agendas.
Come join and lend your voice!