In the fellowship of gardeners, that is. I have this tendency to compartmentalize, and so I have operated under the impression that gardening, like music, is something of a great unifier. But I am not so sure.
In certain parts of my world, others are a bit more conservative than I am, in other parts there is a narrow spectrum of differences in which, … the locale, and even wider differences among family members, do not find politics of particularly marked importance in the relationship. So it is something unusual to find that in the company of garden enthusiasts, and especially the garden bloggers, I am in the preserve of liberal leaning politics. Sometimes I wondered whether it impacted my blog, but then dismissed that idea with the knowledge that my sporadic unreliable blogging and networking probably had more to do with that. Yet, I still have a nagging curiosity. What determines more of a relationship? The passion for a garden or for politics? It could be that those of conservative views are more quiet about them in the garden community… or maybe not so many are gardeners? Maybe more of them are interior decorators?
This curiosity predates the present political climate which has played powerfully into our cultural emotions. Race, religion, war, macro-economics any one of which would mold our opinions; but I had imagined the garden to have been a sanctum which ushered us into a neutral ground of interaction.
That now seems naive. In some of my garden reading I realized how much of our garden ideas are inflected with our political mindset. We are not particularly partisan at all times, but we are quite impassioned on some issues.
I wonder if anyone ever did a demographic study?
Just some random thoughts….
