It is time, time for me to say goodbye, goodbye to all of you who have had the gumption to stick with me through the good, the bad and, yes, the ugly.
This is a three part farewell.
Here in Part I will review my motivations for starting to write this column and the reasons I now decide to take my leave.
Over the years my writings have been profane, angry, humorous and thoughtful. In part II I will briefly review some of those writings, admitting my mistakes and pointing out where I was correct. I will also highlight differences I have had with my fellow conservatives.
Part III will discuss what I foresee for the future.
I have been writing this column for three years and it is now time for me to retire from the endeavor, three being a magical number – the three dimensions of space; length, width and height; the three dimensions of time; past, present and future and, of course, the three divinities of the holy Trinity.
The initial impetus for writing a political column came from my desire to establish a common ground on which legitimate debate could be waged absent the lies and ugly accusatory rhetoric that was then being conducted under the guise of a “lean forward” towards the truth. I was naïve enough to believe that if I presented thoughtful arguments backed up by diligent research citing reliable sources the result would be a platform on which such debate could begin.
In short I believed I could make a difference.
Silly me.
I had been reading and listening to pundits who, in spite of their bona fides, were spouting outright lies with straight faces. Polluted politics was replacing reasoned arguments. Confusion was to be accepted as the new norm, the current canon which we must now accept. This haze engulfs us still.
However I do see a tide shift but more about that later.
I labored to present my independent but mostly conservative opinions honestly in hopes that those who visit here, even those of a different political persuasion, might give the independent/conservative viewpoint more careful consideration.
Unfortunately, in this effort I have earned a doctoral degree in disappointment. My belief in our innate integrity has been challenged. Americans appear to have become weak-willed and selfish.
My disillusionment stems from my realization that neither side in this debate is about to change its mind regardless of the facts presented. The intellectually lazy Left would rather just blame Bush while the stiff-necked Right believes in its political purity.
When I posited that Obamacare, public unions and the take-over of the auto industry were just three examples of a socialist “you didn’t build that” philosophy the results were jeers and accusations of name-calling. The Left, it seems, interprets the word “socialist” as an insult rather than as a description of an economic theory.
Jeering and name calling are childish and do not sting. What stings is the closed-mindedness, the unwillingness to even discuss our differences.
The Right, when confronted by facts they find critical of their positions, also refuse to admit they could be wrong.
A global population of over seven billion humans striving to survive on this tiny blue pebble, a fouling of our skies with the ash of fossil fuels, the polluting of the purity of our waters, depleting soil of its necessary nutrients, all seem sufficient reasons to at least argue the merits, or lack thereof, of the climate change challenge. To refuse such a discussion is pigheaded.
I must be a hopeless idealist because it took me three years to realize that nothing I write will change a single mind. Both sides have stuffed cotton into their ears and loosened their tongues with the firewater of self-righteousness amplified by a doubt-filled surety which necessitates shouting.
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