David Briley for Mayor of Nashville

I've debated on whether or not to do a series of endorsements for the Nashville elections, because I'm well aware that my endorsement doesn't matter...but I've been thinking a lot about the election lately, and have been justifying my thoughts to both myself and to my friends, so I figured I might as well write down my meandering thoughts on the ol' blog.

I started this Blog about two years ago. The original address was davidbriley.blogspot.com; the name "Nashville for the 21st Century" was intended to be the title of a Briley "shill" blog. Then, he decided to not run for Mayor and chose instead to run for Vice-Mayor. I didn't think it was worth the time to do a blog for a Vice-Mayoral candidate, and so I scrapped it. During the summer of '06, I brought it back as a personal blog to talk about the 2006 elections and local politics. So, in a way, it should come as no real surprise that I am in fact voting for, and dare I say it, endorsing David Briley for the next Mayor of Nashville.

Now, where I differ from many Briley supporters (whose comments can be seen here and here) is that I am not reflexively "pro-Briley". If I disagree with him, I'll say it (the freedom that not having a specifically 'shill' blog can bring). If I agree with another candidate, I'll say that too. I happen to believe that there are 3 good candidates in this race; Howard Gentry, Karl Dean, and yes, David Briley. On the topic of immigration, an issue that is of great importance to me, I think that Howard Gentry gives the best and most "progressive" answers on the issue. He stresses the importance of inclusion, tolerance, and kindness; and that is something that often gets pushed to the side in what was a wedge issue in the 1850s and 60s, and continues to be one today. I think, for the most part, Briley has solid positions on this issue, but I came across with the sense that he was bringing it up for political gain in his last TV commercial; regardless of whether that was the case, that is the impression I came away with.

When it comes to Karl Dean, I think he would be a very capable Mayor. I feel that his style does seem to have strong connections to that of Phil Bredesen and Bill Purcell, and on the fundamentals, I don't find much disagreement with him. Some of Briley's supporters have criticized Dean for sending his kids to Private School; and frankly I couldn't care less. There are Republican parents whose kids are in public school but would sell out that system for federally subsidized private school in a heart beat. I have no doubt that Dean would be an advocate for the public education system, regardless of whether he has kids there or not. As for him using his "wife's" money, so what? John Kerry, more or less, used his wife's dead husband's wealth to boost his campaign contributions...I wonder how many of these Briley supporters attacked Kerry for that?

But, in the end, I'm not basing my decision for who I will vote for on whether or not some of his supporters have pissed me off in the past few days. Ultimately, it's not about them, but rather about the man behind the campaign. And something I read on the flight back from Dallas helped me solidify my support for Briley. It was an article in Seed Magazine called "The Living City," and it followed my thought processes on evolution in general. Those that move forward, those that try new things, those that stick their necks out; are generally the ones who evolve and survive...those that remain static, die. In essence, if you ain't moving forward, you're dying.

I believe that David Briley will move this city forward in a progressive fashion. The green issues are just a small component. Back in '05, Briley put forward an idea to bring Municipal broadband to Nashville...something I think would help this city. Now, he had backed off of that, but I believe that in a second term of a Briley administration, this would become more of a possibility. But putting that policy initiative aside, I like his ideas about making Nashville (or guiding Nashville) a city of unique neighborhoods. Interestingly, there is perhaps a Conservative argument to be made for Buck Dozier bringing this, but I am not a conservative and I don't believe a hands off approach to planning is necessarily always a good thing.

I believe that Briley will help this city evolve, help it grow, and help it attract new, younger, and more progressive people. I think we can become an even larger city, but not a copy-cat of others...a unique city. The theme of Nashville being the "Music City" is important, but we can't rely on that forever. It'll bring in a few tourists here and there, but what grows a city is strong economic growth and innovative citizens...I believe that Briley will help to bring those people here.

There is of course the question of whether or not Briley can win? Well I'm not as optimistic as some, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let some poll numbers guide my view on who will or won't be the best Mayor for Nashville. This is essentially a primary race, and I am supporting the person whom I think most reflects my point of view on what this city can be.

Ultimately, even if Briley is elected, I realize my expectations will be disappointed...throughout this campaign, there have been times when they already have been; but that's because I do have high expectations for Briley. Higher than for any candidate, and I have to believe its because I see something in Briley that I don't necessarily see from others. Its a sense that he will be different, and better, than the previous two administrations. Thats not to say Bredesen and Purcell didn't do a great job, they obviously did, but its to say that I think they did their jobs to bring Nashville where it should've been, and now a new job has begun. That job is to both maintain their successes, and pioneer new ways to bring Nashville into the 21st Century, and I believe today as I did two years ago, that David Briley is the man to do that job.