I live out in Real Virginia, which is to say the part of Virginia that is technically a D.C. exurb, but is populated almost entirely by normal people. My neighbors are teachers and plumbers and soldiers and engineers. Plenty of the folks out here work for the federal government, but none of them work in politics. We have no lobbyists and on the odd occasions when I meet a lawyer‑-in my neighborhood, lawyers exist in the same population ratio you’d expect in vivo–the lawyer actually practices law. There are no–zero–journalists in my neck of the woods. For all I know, I might be the only one in the county.

In fact, it’s a sign of how big-hearted and good-natured these people are that they view me more as a curiosity than a contamination.