Wednesday, March 4, 2009

And They're Off!

A political blog. Without question, this is really a new thing for me.

Don't get me wrong; I've been blogging for several years and have really enjoyed it. While politics would occasionally creep in on my other site, by and large it was devoted to issues about faith and family.

In recent months, however, as I've gotten more concerned (or frustrated or angry; take your pick on how to fill in the blank) with the political situation in this country, I've found that I've been devoting more of my posts to the issue of politics. I'm a conservative, yes, but I can't say that I'm any more thrilled with the GOP right now than I am the Democrats. With a large part of my job currently consisting of monitoring the activities of the Administration and Congress, I read a lot, listen to a lot, and think even more. What I needed for the thinking and analysis was a place to put down my thoughts, share intriguing columns and political writing, and post things from the news that draw my attention (or frustration or anger; another blank to fill in).

As such, I started this blog to provide yet another place for lively - and polite - political debate. Don't let the fact that I'm a conservative turn you off; I will gladly listen to all points of view and try to debate anyone who is willing - and use all of those exchanges to solidify my own position, which can only be strengthened when I know all the arguments.

I am particularly drawn to the William F. Buckley quote in the masthead for this blog, and its references to the majority and minority. However, from my point of view I have seen a great reversal in recent years - the majority is now the government, and the American people have gradually become the minority. This blog is my small attempt to stare down the majority.

3 comments:

  1. Matt, I'm glad to see this and happy to be your first declared follower. Just to let you know though, I really have nothing to say about Rush Limbaugh! ;o) even though he seems to have found a way to inject himself in the center of the chatter. I'm still very supportive of Obama but I think I can step outside myself to get some sense of the frustration that conservatives feel, perhaps something similar to what I was feeling in the early years of the Bush administration. The big difference as far as I can see though is that I never thought Bush was very credible or qualified for the job and he grossly overplayed his hand, given the slim margin of victory. Obama has stronger personal skills and a more obvious political mandate, which to me makes a lot of the conservative squawking (from pundits and the more prominent political leaders like Cantor, Boehner, McConnell, Steele, etc.) seem rather incredible to me. I don't expect them to lay down passively and take their lumps without a fight, but it really doesn't seem like their critique is making many inroads on anyone other than the conservative "true believers." I have a number of friends at work who voted for McCain who've told me they're pretty impressed with Obama so far despite the wretched economic predicament we're stuck in.

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  2. Thanks for being the first follower; when starting both of my blogs, I was always wondering who -- if anyone -- would even be interested in reading. I at least want to try and do something that will bring folks back often.

    I would like to be supportive of the President, and I certainly don't fall in line as well with those of my friends who want Obama to fail. By making that argument, what they are in essence wishing for is for the entire country to fail. Yes, the financial situation is not improving as rapidly at this point as anyone would have hoped (although I think that a fast turnaround isn't all that realistic), and there's been a lot of print given to the fact that the stock markets have dropped something like 30 percent since election day. However, it's certainly no reason to give up.

    Having said that, it's hard to fight the good fight as the loyal opposition if you're circling the wagons and then firing inward. And if I am one of the ones who is being targeted as a potential Republican voter, seeing all of this going on isn't really going to encourage me to join.

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  3. Just not impressed with Obama, except for his excellent rhetorical skills. I would love for him to succeed, except his methods have never succeeded in the past.

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