The Conservative Wahoo is Back

Sketches made to help choose the blog avatar

In February I took a break from this blog, after over a year of political anguish, aggravation, disappointment, and recrimination. What I had sought to help derail--a Donald Trump presidency--was the new reality, and America was settling in to face it.

Eight months have passed, and I think we all have a sense of where things have settled out. Of course, no two of these versions match each other, but it seems clear that we've had sufficient time to measure the man and his impact, which has been as enormous as it has been inconsequential.

The plain truth is that I missed blogging. I missed writing about politics and social issues. Honestly, I missed having people pass me and say, "hey, I really liked that post you did the other day on...." I missed the thrill of driving along and having an idea pop into my head for a post (only to realize that I had no outlet for it). I'd given up politics on Facebook, and Twitter isn't great for complete thoughts, though it is where my annoying sarcasm and snark can be viewed in its full glory @ConsWahoo.

And so, I return to this labor of love. She is a cruel mistress, this blog. She demands constant attention, constant interaction. She is jealous of my other interests. Her way of showing love back to me is sometimes hurtful, cruel, and hateful. Sometimes, I give her works of great thought and passion, and they are ignored. But I love her nevertheless.

Now for a little administration. I will -- for the foreseeable future--be the only blogger to entertain you here. This leads to less content--but I'm ok with that. Next, comments are encouraged, but I will moderate them. Every single one. If I don't like its tone, it won't show up. Keep in mind, the First Amendment applies to the government restricting the speech of individuals. You have no First Amendment rights here, Bub. This is a mostly benevolent dictatorship.  Comments will be moderated at most once a day--so if you make a comment and it doesn't show up immediately, assume 1) I haven't gotten to it yet or 2) it failed the tone test.

I remain an unreconstructed critic of President Trump, and this will likely color a good deal of the writing you see here. If you are looking for cheer-leading for the Administration, look elsewhere. But I am also an unreconstructed cuck, globalist, Burkean, Friedmanesque, von Misen, Bucklean conservative. If you are looking for critiques of this President from the left--you will be disappointed. For those who say that I pay too much attention to what Trump says and not enough to what he does, I will only answer that 1) he hasn't done much and 2) what he has done that I agree with I point out. What he says (Tweets, etc) is also important because of the degree to which his example and conduct are central to the norms and values that -- along with law -- govern our political system. If you wouldn't accept his behavior from your teenage son, yet you give the President a pass, you're part of the problem.

You will also be disappointed if you look to me to be so ideological as to eschew compromise. It seems clear to me that we are where we are (up Shit's Creek) because we--the people and our representatives--have lost the capacity and the will to compromise. We return people to Congress term after term who reflect our dead-ender mentality, and so nothing gets done. When a politician suggests that there may be a real compromise to be had, where we get a little more than they do, we reject it because we're not getting everything we want.

I severed my relationship with the Republican Party when it appeared obvious that Trump would win the nomination, and I will not rejoin the Party until I am convinced that his influence has been extirpated. So if your argument amounts to "you're not supporting the Party", well then, you're arguing with the wrong guy. On the other hand, the Democratic Party is an abhorrent confederation of victimization merchants underwritten by unrestrained virtue signalers--and it is no place for me.

So here I stand--without Party, and without reservations. I look forward to our interaction, and I hope that what you read here is occasionally interesting.