Usually oped columns are as formulaic as a Hollywood blockbuster. Either the writer agrees with my predetermined opinions or they do not. If they agree with me then I can bask in their pleasant reassurances of my worldview. If they disagree then I can count on them to raise my blood pressure and fill me up with righteous indignant energy.
That’s why David Brooks stands out. While theoretically a “conservative” columnist, I can never predict what he might say on a given subject and how I might respond. He’s actually thought-provoking.
Probably the main reason for this is that he covers topics generally ignored by a reactive and lazy press. In the past month, he’s noted that Obama’s economic stimulus package does little to promote “new urbanism”–urban infill, multiuse buildings, proximity of workplace to home, etc. While I generally associate these concerns with the liberal end of the spectrum, most liberals have been jumping out of their skins with joy at the thought of some New Deal style government work program putting people to work building new bridges and superhighways. Never mind that all the interstate highways and dams built in the last century, while they may have provided employment and fueled economic growth, have led to environmental disaster and social disruption.
Brooks also wrote a column where he discussed a study indicating that hard work usually trumps genius. A person of average musical ability who practices piano diligently will probably play better than an unusually talented person who goofs off. A person of decent verbal ability and good imagination who decides she wants to be a writer and writes every day and keeps sending off her articles or stories to magazines, will one day be a published writer. Nothing magical about it. As a person of average musical ability who practices piano diligently and a person of above average verbal ability and imagination who keeps sending off my creations to the larger universe, I take heart in this.
Today Brooks wrote about happiness, how as we all know, money or talent or looks doesn’t buy happiness and we don’t know exactly what does. He acknowledges that there are mysteries of the human soul we still know nothing about.
These topics might support some traditionally liberal programs–universal music education or bike paths. They also advocate individual responsibility, which somehow has become (at least theoretically) a cornerstone of conservatism. But Brooks does not propose or denigrate any specific policy initiatives in these columns. He simply throws the issues out there, suggesting one can deal with them in a multitude of ways and still not fully understand them.
Finding what works—isn’t that what the Obama administration is supposed to be about?
May 14, 2009 at 4:10 pm |
I read the story on how practice makes genius, and have had it going through my mind ever since. David Brooks gives me hope that rational debate with the other side is good, and helps me see that the tug of war can produce interesting ideas.Thanks for getting back to your blog, I am enjoying it.