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Thank you to those of you who have put a little something in the old Hullabaloo Holiday stocking this year! It’s so satisfying to know that people value your work and want you to keep doing it. It truly means the world to me.
The fact is that I haven’t taken a full day off in more than 15 years even when on vacation. (You can look it up …) Tom Sullivan broke his similar record when he had a heart attack and even then was only out for five days! Does that seem just a tad obsessive? Yeah, it is. I fully admit that.
I’m a political junkie from way, way back but writing this blog for the past 20 years has brought focus and perspective to my political views. Political evolution is inevitable if you are paying attention, maturing etc, but there’s something about writing it all down every day, like a diary or a long intimate correspondence as they did back in the day, that hones your thinking.
We aren’t a fancy new Substack, but we deliver every single day, all day. It’s what makes a blog a blog.
I’ve mellowed a bit over the years. In the early days when I wrote psuedonymously, I was edgier, more profane, and a whole lot more judgmental towards people who are trying their best. (It’s never too late for an old dog to learn to be a nicer person.) But as I look back and shudder at my mistakes, I realize that I always had a few underlying beliefs that have served me well. Among them is that it’s important not to fall in love with politicians even if you find them wildly appealing (which isn’t often.) They aren’t your boyfriend or girlfriend.
Another is that the media is a herd and subject to group think — but just because that group think is often wrong it doesn’t mean it is never right. Contrarianism for contrarianism’s sake is just as bad.
Finally, I have known for more than 30 years that the Republican party took a dark turn toward authoritarianism, even as it screams “freedom!” at every turn. In fact, the seeds go back even farther. It is what motivated me to chronicle our time — or document the atrocities, as I like to put it.
All of that informs my writing about politics and I think it’s been helpful in assessing both political parties as we’ve tried to traverse this tumultuous time. I’m sure that I have many blind spots. They are revealed to me often. But I do try to be clear-eyed about my biases and suss out when it’s best to trust my instincts and when it behooves me to defer to those who know more than I do.
It’s hard. These online mediums are a test of maturity and decency and it’s so, so easy for anger and spite and jealousy and all the rest to get the best of you. Just look at what’s happened to Facebook and twitter. But I would like to think that for the most part this little old blog can serve as a refuge for those of you who like an overview of the news of the day that brings a little perspective and maybe a little information you can’t get anywhere else.
If this is valuable to you, I hope you’ll consider giving us some support so that we can keep going for another year. (It really is a year to year prospect…) It’s a pleasure to offer this blog for free to anyone who wants it but the support those of you who can afford it provides makes that possible.
And thanks again to all who have helped us keep the lights on here at Hullabaloo over the course of the last 20 years. It’s a privilege to write for all of you.
Happy Hollandaise everyone!