We'll miss him when he's gone.

I loved this:

In the rash of window smashings and inexplicable health reform hysteria a couple weeks ago, one of the tea parties published online the address of who they thought was democratic Virginia congressman Tom Perriello, and encouraged followers to "drop by." They screwed up—it actually was Perriello's brother's address, and the brother woke up Wednesday to find the gas line to his house cut.

Because, you know, Perriello supported a fairly conservative, market-based compromise correction of a grossly failed system in our country. Let's blow something up. The same tea partier later referred to the brother as "collateral damage."

Perriello's response to the threats?

"Whatever. I’ve lived in Sierra Leone for two years, where the life expectancy is 34 years old. If the worst thing that happens is that special-interest groups spend millions of dollars against me and my most ardent opponents organize against me, it’s hardly a ‘cry me a river’ moment — as long as people act civil and within the law.”

This seemed entirely in character. Perriello got my attention last year when he won his seat in a massive upset in a historically conservative district. Here's why:

A graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, Perriello worked to end atrocities in Liberia as well as with child soldiers, amputees, and local pro-democracy groups in Sierra Leone. He became special adviser for the international prosecutor during the showdown that forced Liberian dictator Charles Taylor from power. His work as a security analyst has taken him to Afghanistan and Darfur. Perriello has also been a part of a groundswell of young progressives whose religious faith motivates them to seek social change through public service. One of the most startling aspects of his 2008 campaign was his pledge to tithe 10 percent of his campaign volunteers' time to local charities. Time they could have spent stuffing mailers and phone-banking went to building houses for the poor.

"Ours is a community-service generation," he says. "Our background is in not-for-profits, the netroots, and problem solving. We understand that the big divisions in America are not even about politics; it's a whole new way of thinking that throws traditional politics out the window." Perriello says he was warned not to talk about Darfur in the rural South but did it anyhow.

He helped stop the war in Liberia. The war in Liberia is.. uh.. personal to my family. I like this guy.

He'll probably lose his seat in November for supporting—again—what was really a market-based, conservative-ish healthcare reform bill. That's fine. I think voters—obviously—should be able to happily vote out representatives who don't represent their views.

But I also think both sides of the aisle—in a congress filled with men whose greatest strength is getting elected—would benefit from more of these sorts of level-headed, educated-by-the-wider-world, problems-are-worth-trying-to-solve public servants. And I'll lament it if we lose him.