A few things that I didn't manage to work into my first post:
I expect that my frequency-of-posting style in this blog will be to take whatever time I need to carefully consider and try to clearly articulate each set of ideas that I set out to cover, and therefore to post less frequently than many other bloggers do. (Which is not to imply that other bloggers don't think things through; I just suspect it will take me longer to approach such quality of work as I've had the pleasure of enjoying from others!) So if I end up being quiet for weeks at a time, don't despair or assume that I've given up. I'll make it clear when I consider this project finished, if that ever happens.
I'm writing under a pseudonym here to keep work and personal life separate, both for my own benefit and to protect my employer. It just seems like the smart thing to do these days, given how easy it is to Google up information and connect it to its source, and given how politically homogeneous the circles in which I currently work and socialize appear to be.
Irrespective of the free license to rant unaccountably that blogging anonymously provides, my intent is to try to keep the discussion here reasonable and say nothing that I wouldn't be willing to stand by. If I'm not sure about something, I'll say I'm not sure. I may at times feel the need to vent a bit when something really bothers me, but I'll make my best effort to take a good deep breath before doing so. Likewise, when I recommend or refer to other blogs, I'll try to stick to sites where reasoned discussion is the norm. I don't get much out of reading angry one-sided screeds, and it's not my style either.
Lastly, I hope it will become clear as I go on that, while I'm writing based on my own experience living in the United States, and feel a desire to express my love for the particular country and culture that have made my own life of freedom possible, I do not regard the love of freedom or the ability to adopt and live by its principles as being the exclusive purview of any particular nation or group of people. It is a universal concept to me, there for any who choose to strive for it. A high regard for the importance of freedom has certainly been a foundational and defining characteristic of American culture and governance, but of course we are a nation built by and of people from all over the globe, my own ancestors included among them. So to you, from wherever you may hail, if you feel this love of, this hunger for liberty too, then welcome, friend. I hope you will find comfort, inspiration, or something of value to you in these pages.
Hang in there folks. There's more coming, I promise.
