Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Is living cooperatively an ideology of itself?

[Greg Dunn (MyLists]

I guess I still don't buy that there is a 1-to-1 correlation between the
desire to share community and left-of-center politics; and therefore I
don't think politics should be the determinant of whether you let
someone into your cohousing community or not. I think the determinant
should be whether a candidate can show that they will contribute in a
positive way to the community, and be basically kind and cooperative
with their neighbors, and be willing and able to participate in the
community life. I still say that if you can find someone who can be like
that even though they have very different beliefs and even values than
you, you're lucky, because they'll help keep you honest.

Of course, everyone is free (within the bounds of the law) to form
whatever sort of community they want, so I'm just talking about the
community I'd most like to see and be part of.

The metaphor that occurs to me (for the person evaluating a prospective
community member) is that of an NBA talent scout. He is undoubtedly
aware that a disproportionately high percentage of big-time NBA stars
are black. He may well let that knowledge influence how and where he
allocates his recruiting time.  But in the end, his job is to evaluate
people on how they play basketball, not the color of their skin (*or*
their political affiliations).  There are a few white, Latino, and Asian
guys (probably even some under 7'5" tall) who can play with the best.
They may bring something very special to the team, precisely because
they *are* different.

Greg Dunn


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