Jefferson wrote that politics always occur from the ground up, at the “roots of grass,”  far from politicians in their counsels. Everywhere I go, I see, hear and sense this burgeoning idea of buying local, shopping local, eating local, being local. You won’t see this movement evolve on the news, or in the angry, “left” “right” fishbowls of Washington. But I don’ t think my news ever comes from there. Today at Gardenworks, Arlene, a wise woman who mans the register,  told me that for the first time, shopper after shopper was asking her if the artwork, food, or fiberart was local, if it came from a “local” artist or farmer or craftsperson. Connie Brooks has had hundreds of calls from book buyers wanting a local, independent alternative to online conglomerates or chain or box stores.

Organic and small farmers say they are asked every day how they grew their crops, treated their chickens or cows. People say they prefer locally produced food to supermarkets and chains. The news media didn’t much cover Plaid Friday, the local shopping alternative to Black Friday, but Maria sold out her potholders, and the digital arts collaborative Etsy.com said they were swamped and Battenkill Books sold more than 100 copies of my book “Going Home,” and you heard this buzzing everywhere online that business was up. I do not turn my life over to gloomy reports of the economy, or believe the world is a hopeless and declining place.  Those ideas are places to hide, traps to make us cower and run. This is the story we are sold, usually for profit. In our culture, the economists are the ones asked by journalists how the country is doing, and so most people, with little choice or option, see our collective lives as measured by stock markets and investment bankers.

The economists don’t like buying local. It doesn’t work in the global economy, were we trade our jobs, lives and communities for corporate profits and hourly productivity and are asked to sacrifice schools, libraries and compassion for efficiency. Buying local is intensely personal for me. It is not an argument or political position. It does not serve the “left” or the “right.” It is not about economists, journalists or economies of scale. It is, every single time, an affirmation of life, freedom, and the right of the individual to life in the world. People to people, not people to corporations, box stores or politicians.  One person to another.  I think we want that. It’s a beautiful idea.