A political memory

April 23, 2002

David Brock starts Blinded by the Light discussing his start in politics in high school and college in Berkeley. Reading this first chapter reminded me of my own early experiences with politics in college when I campaigned for Bill Clinton’s first term. And it’s led me to analyze why I didn’t get more heavily involved in politics even though politics was such an important part of my life. I had fully intended to be an activist, and in an alternate universe I would probably have been with the protesters here in Washington over the weekend rather than grousing about potential traffic problems.

In 1992 I started school at Virginia Tech, located in the mountains of Montgomery County, Virginia. One of my first stops upon arriving on campus was the annual Student Organization Expo, where I made a bee-line for the Young Democrats booth. The YDs had a small contengent on campus, which was to be expected because Virginia Tech is pretty conservative as far as major universities go. The Virginia Tech YDs were less than a score of somewhat feckless social-outcast types. The College Republicans, on the other hand, had a much larger and much better organized group. The YDs at Tech felt ignored. In fact, we felt so ignored that I feel we sometimes tried to manufacture persecution where there really wasn’t any.

In particular I’m reminded of a parade down South Main Street. The YDs had a car and a fairly good turnout of people — maybe about ten. The College Republicans had a very nice car and quite a few good-looking representatives on hand. Both of us were there to hand out fliers promoting our candidates: Bill Clinton for the YDs, and George Herbert Walker Bush for the CRs.

The CRs had thought to put a large magnetic Virginia Tech seal on their car, which we thought was in blatant disregard of rules and fairness. It would look like Virginia Tech had endorsed Bush, we cried! It was WRONG of them to do this, and we tried our best to get the parade organizers to force the removal of the seal. They would not, and we started the parade feeling bitter and persecuted. We probably also looked quite a bit silly.

However, something else happened that parade day that made a more noticeable and immediate impact on me, Many Blacksburg residents cheerfully took our Clinton fliers. Some people booed us. But one gentleman in a shabby uniform and VFW hat gave me a remarkable demonstration of adult maturity. As I walked alongside the YD car, he walked into the middle of the street and politely requested a flier from me. I handed him one. He threw the flier on the ground and jumped up and down on it while his companions laughed cheerfully.

I handed him another to see what he would do; he jumped on that as well. There was no embarrassment, no second-guessing of his actions, and no thought that I was, perhaps, much too small prey for his vitriol. He was much too involved in showing off his power by mocking a new college student.

It occurred to me then that maturity was probably a myth, and politics a dirty, emotional game where the players relied little on rationalism. If this vet was politics, then the statesmanship I admired in people like Lincoln and Jefferson was long dead.

I hoped it was not, and the old man simply an old man gone somewhat silly in his later years. Unfortunately, it was a harbinger of things to come. The infantile behavior was not going to be limited to Blacksburg parade routes, but would show up early and often in our national Senators and Representatives.

So that’s how I got my first real hint that civility in politics was dead.

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