Read the editorial page of your local paper. It introduces you to opinion and can be terrifically provocative and perhaps a great motivating force for you to get involved in your community, regardless of your political ideology.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
As a writer, I have readers who will have a range of political views. I don't think they look to me for political guidance.
The best way to appreciate our political process is to volunteer for a campaign and support a candidate you believe in.
I'm not a politician. I only want to help relieve the suffering in communities, and I want to help people see their community in each other.
I really don't have a lot of interest in national politics, and it's because I'm a skeptic. I think you can accomplish a lot more locally. I don't want to spin the wheels and not get anything done.
I am not a political writer. I agree with Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell, who are social writers. I can't write in that fashion. I am not good enough for that. What I am interested in is family dramas and why we are doing bad things to each other and what our motives are.
Isn't that what we come into politics for? To say to people: 'You can do it, too - there is a chance to serve your community. There is a chance to shape it co-operatively and democratically, without fear or favour.' And that is what I tried to do.
One thing you have got to do politically is to identify the ties that bind society together and try to strengthen them.
My work is drawn to the political but avoids an agenda. There is no inherent critique or support.
I engage with local politics because it affects people I love. And I engage in national politics because it affects people I love.
I want to be an advocate for the people who don't have time to read the newspaper... or the money to make a political contribution.