Robert Griendling

Commonwealth Commonsense was once mostly about Virginia but quickly morphed into U.S. politics and the media that cover them. But in Spetember 2009 I started a new blog, News Commonsense that focuses only on the media.

I am a progressive, usually voting Democratic. Progressive ideas – those based fundamentally on the premise that as a society we have some obligation to each other to maintain health, opportunity and a sense of security – have fallen out of favor over the last 25 years as the country has moved too far, in my opinion, towards the idea that to each is own and the hell with everybody else. The certain meanness, intolerance and selfishness that characterizes much of our political discourse has driven a wedge between what used to be thoughtful conservatives and liberals about how we maintain the greatest society in the world.

I have been involved in grassroots organizing in my community for many years. I was co-founder of RENEW, a community -based initiative to advocate for school renovation, and its spin-off, RENEW Virginia Schools, a political action committee that was active in the Virginia House and Senate races in 2003. I have worked for Virginia state political candidates.

For more than 20 years, I have been a communications consultant. The Griendling Communications web site is here. Before that, I was a journalist and radio producer.

I live in Fairfax with the greatest woman in the world. We have three above average children.