A Second First Impression: Greetings!

In which I use a lot of words to say hello.

And so I stumble out of the gate.

Exactly one post in, and I’ve already overlooked an “Outside the Beltway” courtesy.   My inaugural post was a longish piece of about a million words and I didn’t even have the civility first to extend a virtual handshake and howdy-do. A job hazard for the professor, in which one thinks: “Look, here’s an audience! Must. Start. Lecturing!”

Sigh…..

So…indulge me a redo.

Hello!

I’m delighted to be accepted as a contributor to “Outside the Beltway.” I’ve been following Steven Taylor’s posts here for a good long time, and I look forward to getting to know many of you through the magic of the interwebs.   I ask for your patience, especially up front. I am technologically challenged (Steven will corroborate emphatically) and I fear I’m going to upload some funky looking posts from time to time, especially early on. You know—posts missing a headline. Or photo. Or text.   But I’ll get the hang of it in time. (Or so I lie…)

Personal stuff. I’m a near-fifty year-old white guy whose knees deliver revenge every time I play half-court basketball. Payback for too many chocolate chip cookies. I’m married and have three kids. I grew up in Kansas City, Mo, and I’ve since lived in Texas, Michigan, and, now, Georgia. I didn’t know whether it’d ever happen but I’ve grown to love my little town and the South more generally. Life here has lots to offer. Natural beauty. Great cuisine. History overfloweth. The dialects that once befuddled me now sound like music.

Professional stuff. I teach American politics at Berry College, which is a pretty cool little private liberal arts-ish college in northwest Georgia. It’s a gorgeous campus, and the students are terrific—polite, well-raised kids who lean conservative a titch but mostly disregard politics as unworthy of disrupting their social lives and screen time. They also force me to grade way too many papers and exams, drat it all. (Yes, I blame them.)

My department (Government & International Studies) is small, so I’m one of two profs who teaches American politics. All of it. Which means, finally, I’m a generalist by necessity and, truth be told, at heart as well. A lifetime ago I decided to major in political science because I couldn’t decide on a major, and there were so many subjects that fascinated me. Politics more than any other field integrated the other topics that caught my fancy—history, economics, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and literature. Even now I love to play the dilettante and set forth theories about stuff about which I have no business discussing. I should take a page from Aaron Burr’s advice to Alexander Hamilton: “Talk less. Smile more.” (Yep, that’s a Hamilton the musical reference.)

My first field in graduate school a million years ago was political philosophy, so I tend to be more of a big picture guy than a nitty-gritty data crunching guy. I try to avoid political science jargon, but I speak the way I speak and I don’t always hear my accent.

My scholarly writings have all ended up in really boring academic journals that virtually no one reads. I’ve written about the American Founding, the presidency, democratic theory, church & state, public deliberation and other areas. I’ve also written some pop culture pieces in magazines (that were almost fun by the impossibly low standards of academic political science). A few years back I was also flattered when Steven invited me to make contributions to a book he edited about politics aimed at a broad audience. But with one exception I’ve never tried this blogging thing. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m grateful to James for his trust in me.

One reason I’m looking forward to this gig is because it will keep me focused on politics.

Whuuuuuut???

Isn’t focusing on politics my job? Well, yes. Sure. But my real academic interests are the Founding period, democratic theory (especially as it relates to church & state) and the presidency as it’s changed over time. Most of that stuff doesn’t have a short shelf life. It doesn’t go away after a single 24-hour news cycle. It’s pretty easy to teach what I teach and still miss this morning’s newspaper (those black and white papery things that were once delivered to our homes). I’m neither a political crusader nor political junkie by inclination, and contributing to a blog from time to time will prompt me to attend more carefully to what’s shaking right now.

So how do I lean politically? I’m a man without a party. I’m kind of a boring old-fashioned “good government” guy. I’m iconoclastic but not revolutionary, and when it comes to doing political battle I prefer good arguments (or snark for that matter) to tossing Molotov cocktails no matter who’s doing the tossing. Without liberals, conservatives are complacent about injustice. And without conservatives, liberals fool themselves that thinking something makes it so.   From a scholarly perspective I’m interested in the power of institutions in shaping incentives as well as the power of culture to shape our politics.   About three days of the week I suspect that institutions are the decisive factor in the life of a regime, and therefore I love me some Federalist Papers.   Another three days of the week I’m fully persuaded that political culture, not institutions, is finally what shapes the success of a people, and I quote Monsieur Tocqueville ad nauseam.   And at least one day of the week I focus on proselytizing the good things of life such as The Beatles; Breaking Bad; Hamilton: An American Musical; Regina Spektor; Marlon Brando; and Martin Scorsese movies.

This post has gone off the rails. I’m sorry. It got self-indulgent pretty quickly, didn’t it?

Let me bring my droning to an end.

We can level with one another. The best part of reading political blogs is reading the predictions, isn’t it? Immediately you have some ego at stake and a make-or-break scenario to follow.   But boy I’m gonna let you down pretty severely here. I pretty much stopped making public political predictions roughly around the time that my profession failed to predict the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. I figured that if we couldn’t see those tectonic changes coming, maybe we’re just no good at predicting.   Oh, and here’s another example of our lameness: Election 2016. You know in your heart when Anne Coulter predicts the future more accurately than your profession, it’s time just to zip it.

I make one exception to my “no prediction” rule. I have no hesitation making sweeping unfalsifiable predictions. You’ll get plenty of these from me.   Like: technology will kill the American dream, and thereby prompt a return to the consolation of religion. I mean, I believe that, but … you know, who’s gonna remember me making it? Plus, I can always say “I didn’t mean it would happen this year.”

You’ll figure out my ideological leanings in due time. No reason to spoil that fun for you. A little to the left here, a little to the right there. A lot centrist much of the time.

Anyway, hello! Nice to meet you.

FILED UNDER: Democratic Theory, Federalist Papers, Science & Technology, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Michael Bailey
About Michael Bailey
Michael is Associate Professor of Government and International Studies at Berry College in Rome, GA. His academic publications address the American Founding, the American presidency, religion and politics, and governance in liberal democracies. He also writes on popular culture, and his articles on, among other topics, patriotism, Church and State, and Kurt Vonnegut, have been published in Prism and Touchstone. He earned his PhD from the University of Texas in Austin, where he also earned his BA. He’s married and has three children. He joined OTB in November 2016.

Comments

  1. Stormy Dragon says:

    I was trying to figure out if you were new or just one of the OtBers who posts so infrequently I forgot you were here.

  2. Michael Bailey says:

    @Stormy Dragon: New. You’ll forget about me later. 🙂

  3. Stormy Dragon says:

    Also, is it just me, or does the sunglasses picture look like Glenn Beck’s Evil Twin?

  4. Jc says:

    And an evening poster. OTB needed an evening posting contributor. I hope you continue that trend as I enjoy reading about politics before bed, it’s a great sleep aid 🙂 I look forward to your observations and insights. You have to have a sense of humor to be a centrist in this day and age.

  5. Monala says:

    Welcome! I enjoyed your first article. Looking forward to more.

  6. Guarneri says:

    Welcome. And if I might advise, don’t worry about your perceived lack of civility; its in short supply around here and no one will be offended.

  7. grumpy realist says:

    Welcome! You probably already know most of our regulars…..our trolls.

    Given your background, I’m wondering if you find yourself drawing much from the research of legal historians such as Brian Tierney? (His book on the basis of constitutional thought blew me away.)

  8. Jen says:

    I love me some Federalist Papers too–looking forward to your contributions.

  9. Rick DeMent says:

    You are nothing if not through. Not to mention a pretty darn good writer.

    I come here for the writing. I stay for the rhetorical food fight.

  10. Barry says:

    Welcome!

  11. Moosebreath says:

    Welcome — you sound like an interesting addition to the roster.

  12. Welcome to the show!

  13. Michael Bailey says:

    @Stormy Dragon: Okay, so this made me laugh. Out loud laugh. Cuz, you know, no one has ever mentioned the resemblance. When I grow my beard I usually get “Kenny Rogers.” But also because I’m Beck’s evil twin. Which given all the things Beck has said over the years makes me pretty badass. 🙂

  14. Michael Bailey says:

    So I told you I’d have trouble with the technology.

    First of all, the photo wasn’t supposed to zero in on my nose and receding hairline. I’ll figure that feature out. Thankfully I can’t think of another post for which I’d need a photo of myself.

    Second, I think I was supposed to post this piece under “Quick Picks.” My intro shouldn’t have been a major news headline. I’m literally laughing now at my lameness. You can’t say you weren’t warned.

  15. Michael Bailey says:

    @grumpy realist: Tierney is a medievalist, and I should definitely get to know his stuff I appreciate the rec

  16. James Pearce says:

    Like: technology will kill the American dream, and thereby prompt a return to the consolation of religion.

    Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.

    – The O.C. Bible

    Glad to have you aboard and looking forward to more intriguing posts.

  17. JohnMcC says:

    Looking forward to some posts on the theme of Institutions vs Culture (and which side of that divide would you assign to the media?). Welcome.

  18. Dave Schuler says:

    Welcome to the playground. Wear a cup.

  19. Just 'nutha'... says:

    “We can level with one another. The best part of reading political blogs is reading the predictions, isn’t it?”

    No. For me, the best part is looking for the philosophical inclinations of the thread commentators. For example, I have come to notice that, at least for my take on the matter, that people on the site who identify as upper middle class or higher–either by direct reference or by implication related to their jobs, incomes, preferences in liquor, etc.–lean philosophically objectivist whether they identify themselves as conservative or liberal. Especially on matters of economics as it relates to social status.

    Welcome. I hope you like the environment. Pay no attention to Guarnari, he projects a bunch.

  20. Guarneri says:

    I rest my case.

  21. Davebo says:

    Welcome Michael. I too appreciated your first post as it made me think a bit outside of my comfort zone which is always good.

  22. Davebo says:

    @Guarneri:

    I rest my case.

    I think we both know that’s not true! :0)