I have to confess, I've really become lackadaisical when it comes to maintaining this blog. The last year at my job has been a turbulent one. I won't identify my employer but I will say that some of the woes of the housing market have sent shockwaves through my workplace. Those of us who are left behind feel added pressure to do more. Last year compliance audits on top of my already enormous workload pushed me over the edge in terms of free time and I was hardly able to touch the content of this site. Though there have been some structural improvements in my department that have made things a bit easier and lighter, I still have a lot of work to do catching up to where I should be.
Why do I bore you with this? One thing I've learned over the years of debating politics is, be very careful what assertions you make or what you claim to be an expert on. Unless I'm really confident and have done a good deal of research, I don't want to be too bold in my assertions. To write a really worthy post that I can be proud of (and there are a few on these pages), I want to have the time to pull all the data together and have enough expert opinion amassed to support whatever argument I am making. And I can't even be confident then that I've made my case. But still, the research and the time to do it is important to me. That's why so few posts these last 12 months.
So, I usually compensate by quoting others in my post. Rather than take the time to research the topic as I'd like to its easier to read National Review, Powerline or Club for Growth on the train, copy and paste their posts, bold highlight the points that I find especially compelling, and naturally, credit my source for the quote at the outset.
However, because of the busyness of life I've been doing this way too much. So, at the bottom of the page I've added a new feature "Quotes that I enjoy from people who 'get it'". As always, bold emphasis mine. Maybe then I'll be motivated by fewer real posts to add more.
