In the Agora: The End of an Era

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November 16, 2006

The End of an Era

Paul Musgrave is undoubtedly an intellectual. One could easily picture him in a French cafe, sipping coffee as a reverent circle forms around him. In America, of course, intellectuals are often mocked as "pointy-heads" and "nattering nabobs", confined to the small apartments of New York and the high walls of collegiate ivory towers. While Musgrave has no doubt embraced this cultural subset of society, he hasn't forgotten his small town, Hoosier roots. It's part of what makes his perspective special.

Musgrave has the rare combination of quirky and mainstream sensibilities, with an uncanny ability to express it in artful prose. It isn't hard to understand, then, why blogging was a perfect fit. Musgrave - one of the nation's first bloggers, the first Hoosier to ever pen a blog, and a co-founder of this website - has effectively "retired" from blogging. The withdraw is so complete that his former website and personal blog was removed before I finished penning this pseudo-obituary. Although we have not heard the last of him, his departure from internet journalism warrants a reflective look at his career thus far.

Rich experiences are the lifeblood of a writer, and Musgrave has never lacked them. He's served as an editor of the internationally renowned Foreign Affairs while living in Brooklyn, studied politics in Ireland as a George Mitchell scholar, and graduated with two degrees from Indiana University on a full ride through the prestigious Wells Scholarship. Musgrave now spends his time helping run the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. But the impressive resume can overshadow his humble roots. In his words:

"[Evansville, Indiana] is, really, only an idealized version of the Midwest, but the Midwest is . . . the country's heartland theme park, its normative baseline, and a place familiar (even if often misunderstood) to all Americans but to few foreigners. And so Evansville merges with the national illusion of the Midwest, a putative normalcy that contrasts with the reality of every place I visit, shocking me anew every time."

There, in the land of "putative normalcy," Musgrave stood out. I first met him as a young teen in a high school debate competition. His reputation as a polished speaker preceeded him. Musgrave would go on to win numerous state and national speech and debate awards, as well as a number of other honors reserved for young prodigies. Yet, even perched high above the ladder of accomplishments, he never lost perspective. He wrote on his personal weblog:

"Official honors mainly go to those who succeed in narrowly defined areas that happen to coincide with the fads; thus, entrepreneurship is less valued than community service, good citizenship is less valued than oratorical skills, and everything is less valued than SAT scores. . . . The structure of our educational institutions fosters an idea of success which is narrowly defined and poorly constructed. The Culture of Achievement, with its National Honors Societies and Good Citizenship Awards, views students as inputs into a quasi-industrial process, whose qualities can be precisely measured and ranked. It thus provides a disservice to those who win awards and those who don't alike by giving them a false idea of human worth. It is an irony that the Culture of Achievement creates exactly the opposite."

Musgrave's musings on life and culture are captivating, but it was politics that often garnered the most attention. As the son of a prominent politician and attorney, Musgrave couldn't avoid it. But unlike so many other writers and pundits of our generation, he spurned the traditional ideologies of left and right. He's evolved from a conservative, to a progressive, and finally to something not quite definable. As one writer profiling him put it, "He asks too many questions and considers too many angles to espouse any one party line." Or as a former professor of his put it, "he's trying to figure out a way to be the sort of public intellectual you don't often find in this country."

I've now known Musgrave for over a decade. In that time we've battled in forensic competitions, formed an alternative newspaper together at Indiana University, embarked on our own personal blogs, and created this website. Through it all we both have changed and evolved, but one thing has remained constant - Musgrave excels. But have we heard the last of him?

"History is full of remarkable individuals who reached high and burned out young," he said in a 2004 interview, but he still saw himself cutting out his place in Indiana politics and public life. Spend much time with him and you can still sense some desire to become the strong political figure that's too often absent in today's politics. A former professor adds, "While he aspires to hold political office himself one day, or perhaps to become an adviser to an elected official, he enjoys using his mind too much to stick at that profession for long, I predict. I fully expect him to end up writing the kinds of books he so enjoys reading - ample, subtle, witty, and smart."

Blogging may no longer be part of Musgrave's future, but you haven't heard the last of him yet. You can bank on that.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at November 16, 2006 12:08 AM

Comments

Nice post, Josh. One can hear the admiration and friendship you share jump off the screen while reading it. And I should add that your praise of Paul is very well deserved. He is the kind of independent thinker that few aspire to be and even fewer could be. I'm rather curious to see what his future holds myself.

Posted by: Ed Brayton at November 16, 2006 04:05 AM | permalink

Paul shut down PMDC before I could post a thank-you and farewell there, so I'm glad Josh has put this beautiful post (and I agree with everything Ed just said.) It's hard to find intelligent and reasonable conversation out here on the web-tubes, and Paul has always been an excellent source thereof. I will continue to hold out hope for, after his much-needed fallow period, an eventual return to the web along something like the model of someone like Greg Djerejian of Belgravia Dispatch or Dan Drezner. I certainly hope he'll continue to be a sometime commentator around here -- even when I disagree with him (which is fairly often), I always learn something from the exchange.

One question though: did Paul really go through a progressive period? It seemed to me more like he went through (and is still in) a sort of profoundly-disappointed-Republican phase. He's certainly too rigorous & independent a thinker to have been a movement conservative. But I never saw anything like a whole-hearted -- or even just a left-ventricle-only -- embrace of the kind of active role of government that one sees advocated by the likes of Matt Yglesias or Kevin Drum.

Posted by: philosopher at November 16, 2006 08:35 AM | permalink

Nice slur on "movement conservatives" like Mike Pence?

Posted by: Anonymous at November 16, 2006 11:43 AM | permalink

Thanks for writing this, Josh. You and Paul were probably my first exposure to bloggers. Paul simply blew me away as one of the most thoughtful and erudite people I've ever met. I expect great things of you both, wherever life may take you.

Posted by: Lee Anne Millinger at November 16, 2006 11:50 AM | permalink

My hat's off to Paul as well, in recognition of such impressive accomplishments at such a young age.

I understand Paul's reasons for folding up PMDC. Only a few weeks ago, a Congressional candidate got in trouble over a piece he wrote many years ago advocating ending Social Security. It is ironic that in this day and age information flows and trends come and go so quickly, yet it's actually more likely that something someone wrote years ago will cause them trouble or embarassment in the future.

Still, we're all a bit poorer for the deletion of PMDC from the blogosphere. Paul's was one of a few blogs that was a true pleasure to peruse from time to time--reading not only the current content but browsing through the archives. If he ever publishes a book with the same sort of content that his blog contained, I'll be one of the first in line to buy it.

Posted by: Eric Seymour at November 16, 2006 12:46 PM | permalink

Like Lee Anne, Paul's and Josh's old web sites were some of the first blogs I discovered. Paul's erudition was astounding even back then. Paul, Josh, and a select handful of others, were the reasons I started blogging and eventually joined ITA itself.

Posted by: David Darlington at November 16, 2006 01:03 PM | permalink

Paul Musgrave is, has been, and will be one of the metersticks to which I aspire and was one of my major inspirations for when I finally started my own blog.

Only Megan McArdle and Ezra Klein come close in my eyes.

Safe paths, Paul. May the sun be on your face, the wind at your back, and the beer always be fresh.

Posted by: Off Colfax at November 16, 2006 06:28 PM | permalink

Hi Paul,
Pio here from Ireland or Eire. If I offended you in any way,then I'm truly sorry. I worked in the States in Silicon Valley for 3 months when that fella Bush came to power.America with Bush n charge was askin for 9/11,sorry but I could see it.Again,I never intended to offend you,just engage in meaningful discussion,which you didn't do.Do it now,you are somebody I want to know.Unfortunatedly,your art is words,thank you...An interesting thesis is how much like Hiberno-English and not English your country i.e. America speaks :-) C'mon.....we can still have that pint :-)

Posted by: Pio O'Connell at December 9, 2006 07:02 PM | permalink

November 16, 2006

The End of an Era

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