So Many Questions...

Why blogging?

I’ve written lots of things in my life, though I’ve never been published, beyond being paid for some brochures, coloring books, and a technical manual once upon a time. I’ve scratched out poems for fun and my own edification and have a tweens science fiction novel that I ought to do something with. But blogging seems like a bite of work I can handle right now, in and amongst my other obligations.

Writing is also a great mechanism for me to work things out. It is the way I communicate best, or, at least, most convincingly, so it’s always been a great tool to help me decide what I think. 

Why this subject?

I’ve become concerned in recent years that I am in danger of contradicting myself. I am also concerned that a tendency to speak of the ideal prevents me from actually answering the questions of the day effectively. I see virtually no one I admire in current American political discourse. Actually, wait, that’s too broad. There are many voices for which I have some respect, but they are not actually in politics.

So what’s the plan?

Well, in apparent contradiction of the previous paragraph, I’m going to start by documenting what I think is ideal. For myself, and anyone who wants in on the conversation, I have to outline my premises or postulates, and go through the process of turning them into a theorem. It’s the only way I know to organize a reasonable evaluation of whatever comes after—to build a set of rules against which to judge a particular course of action. That said, I’m just going to have to see what works as a start in.

Sources?

Early on, I’m going to try and avoid a lot of heavy quotes or references. That may lead me to duplicate the work of others or to look dumb treading on well covered ground. But the purpose of all this is to get to my own set of principles, so, I’d rather try to document and develop them organically. That said, I may get into some question of history, for example, that I need to research, and I’m not going to avoid that either. But this is a thought experiment as much as anything.

I’m probably going to use a question and answer format quite a bit here as I get started. I also intend to have some questions off to the side for extra credit, the sort of thing that leads me to start the blog to begin with.