May 26, 2023- Recently, I have fallen into the habit of writing to my Senators and Congressman, using pre-written responses, with which I read beforehand and with which I generally agree. The Senators respond, with generalities and vague statements of understanding. Not so, our new Congressman, whose response, yesterday, was essentially ‘When you write me, use your own words, preferably in an e-mail or response posted to my newsletter.’

What a refreshing reminder! Although there is much that he says with which I disagree, sometimes vehemently, the Congressman reminds me of the late John McCain and Barry Goldwater, with both of whom I also begged to differ, quite often. The fact remains, however, that when we get too caught up in parroting the words of others-or worse, parroting the words of an Artificial Intelligence tool, our own integrity suffers, no matter how much we may agree with what the author is saying.

Pablum is a food for infants. Verbal Pablum is not something that will resolve any issues or the problems reflected by those issues. I sat down and read the Congressman’s newsletter, then addressed a couple of issues he raised, in a concise and respectful manner. So long as our differences are a matter of how each of us sees the world, there is no call for anything less. His overriding concern is maintaining integrity in government. As that is also my concern, we ought to be able to keep in respectful dialogue.