A republican is defined as an individual who believes in a society where ultimate authority rests with its citizens and is entrusted to elected officials, including an executive leader, for purposes of governance. A democrat is defined as an individual who believes in the political or social equality of all citizens in a society. Together they function in a civic culture, an environment that promotes participation in the affairs of the society and that accepts the authority of the state or government.

VoxFairfax has been initiated to create a platform where small “r” republicans and small “d” democrats may exchange thoughts by way of blog articles and engage in discussion by way of comments upon those articles—all in a civil manner, with respect and without name-calling or ad hominem attacks.

Currently, political and civil dialogue have succumbed to bitter partisanship, sometimes characterized as progressive, conservative, neo-con, liberal, and similar tribal classifications. As a result, political parties, elected officials, government institutions, and the media have been marginalized, while social media has become consumed by the cacophony in civic culture and severely distorted civic dialogue. While some of this content may reference electoral and/or party politics, our focus is on ideas and issues of interest that affect all of us, notwithstanding political ideology or party.

Jim McCarthy and Michael Fruitman are the VoxFairfax editors/curators; while Jim lives in Fairfax County (Herndon), Michael recently moved to Loudoun County (Ashburn).