This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The comparison in this blog headline arose because of two current issues for me – higher education’s so-called commitment to “diversity and inclusion” and, of all things, an environmentally-sound winery here in Oregon which my wife and I joined a few weeks ago.

Why do these different issues underline this critical distinction?

• For higher education, it is one thing to be committed, ethically and morally, to diversity and inclusion.  It is quite another to sign up for a political movement which strains or perhaps ridicules those who don’t sign up for the movement.

• As for the winery, the Brooks Winery in Yamhill County, it is committed to environmental way of growing of grapes that are harvested to make wine, so much so that it recently won an international award for its commitments.  Again, not an award for joining a political movement; an award for on-the ground environmental stewardship.

Here’s more background.

The acronym, DEI, refers to “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” which seeks to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups that have historically been under-represented or subject to discrimination on the basis of their identity or disability.

That’s laudable as a commitment. 

What runs afoul of my sensibilities is when DEI becomes a political organization which demands salutes and, if you don’t give those salutes, describes you as an enemy.

The same can be said of the “environment lobby.”  If you don’t salute its political agenda, you are an enemy.

A week or so ago in London, The Drinks Business (which is the European top wine and spirits magazine) awarded Brooks the “Green Company of the Year.”

Nominees competed from around the globe.  The criteria all were related to “sustainable efforts” in winemaking with a focus on and actions in the last 12 months.

Good for Brooks!  Its award is for real, down-to-earth work.

I saw the distinction between commitments and politics play out when I worked as a lobbyist for about 25 years.

Social commitments can be good and beneficial. 

When they become political movements, they lose, for me, most of their luster.

So, I say, salute the commitments, not the political movement.