Blogging in 2012

I will mark six years of blogging in April 2012. I have to laugh a little when I check out some of my earliest efforts. I'm a much better blogger now, but I'm motivated by the same concerns that got me started. Here's something I wrote at my very first blog post:

No other single topic or object of analysis in my entire career as a political scientist has worried me as has contemporary anti-Americanism. I have learned about the complex nature of the radical left in this country, and its ties to, for example, transnational movements to deligitimize the nation-state and the principle of national sovereignty, the world's anti-globalization forces, and pro-Palestian organizations bent on the destruction of Israel.

It was the radical left's treasonous attacks on the war in Iraq that first got me to writing. I started American Power in October of 2007 when I finally pinned down my central ideological orientation: I'm neoconservative, but by now more reflective of that persuasion and more sophisticated in its elucidation. Unlike some who're characterized as "national greatness" types (or ridiculed that way, in fact), I'm animated by the tea party movement and my goals aren't so much as to radically shrink government but as to promote a politics of balanced budgets, entitlement reform, and continued support for a robust defense --- a "constitutional conservatism." These goals can't be achieved with the Democrats in power, obviously. And while we may get Mitt Romney as the GOP nominee, any of the mainstream Republicans would be an enormous improvement over the current administration. (Ron Paul is not mainstream and I'd abstain next November rather that vote for him if he somehow secured the nomination.)

I'll also continue to shine a spotlight on the global neo-communist left. I've learned a lot about the left over this past six years --- indeed, I'm a changed man. Probably the strangest thing to me is what I frequently refer to as our upside down politics of moral bankruptcy at home and abroad. This is one reason why my support for Israel will continue more consistently than ever before. Progressives hold Israel in the cross-hairs for death as an independent state. And when called out on it they'll spew the most vicious historical lies --- the kind of lies that would make the Nazis proud. Support for Israel rests at the center of the defense of Western civilization. I often remind myself that Israel defends itself just fine and that the Jewish state is not going out of business any time soon. And that's true. But Israel's enemies are working harder than ever before to push the Jews to the sea and this administration is doing its damnedest to bring about that reality. This situation brings even some of our most stalwart defenders of decency in the world to despair that we've crossed a threshold of appeasement and social decay, and this failure threatens the peace and stability of the West.

I'm not personally pessimistic about the survival of right and decency in the United States. But things will depend on winning the upcoming election and driving the Democrats from power. As I've noted many times, today's Democrat Party is no longer the party of Truman and Kennedy. It's a progressive-socialist party that touts nearly 100 Castroite members in Congress. And the political culture is increasingly infected with the cancer of progressivism and political correctness. It will take a lot to turn back the tide against these freaks, but the new social media --- and the Democats' overreach itself --- is empowering new armies of the righteous to take this country back.

And on a personal level, 2011 was a considerable challenge as a blogger. I beat back not one but two attacks that might have broken lesser writers. First were the attacks at my workplace by Scott Eric Kaufman and Carl Salonen. There is nothing more despicable than the kind of lies mounted by progressive demons as this. It's shocking, really, the extent that people will go to destroy their political enemies. But I rest soundly every day knowing that it's the truth that sustains me and that progressives can't take me down no matter how hard they try. And believe me, they try and will continue to try because the left does not tolerate deviations from the accepted narrative, especially from a political scientist working from behind the lines of academic totalitarianism. I drive the left f-king crazy. And I don't plan on stopping any time soon. The second challenge was the damned Righthaven lawsuit, which I beat by simply refusing to capitulate to those assholes. As I said at the time, it was scary as hell being served, but Righthaven is a bully and a troll and they're going down in a gloriously epic defeat.

So, thanks to all my readers. I have a few core readers and supporters who've become my friends, and I have a large number of readers and linkers among fellow conservative bloggers. And I continue to hear from new readers from time to time with words of good cheer and support. It all sustains me and I'll be plugging away throughout 2012.

Happy New Year!