Rossputin.com: Rational Thinking About Our World

I had the opportunity to appear on Jon Caldara's television show "Independent Thinking" in an episode that aired last Friday and again Sunday, the subject of which was the state of political blogging in the US and Colorado. If I can find a way to get the episode online, I'll do so and post that info on these pages.

A view emailed a note to Jon about the show, which I would like to share with you followed by response to her. I understand some of the context is missing if you haven't seen the show, but I think the notes are fairly self-explanatory. First, her comments:

I'm currently watching your telecast on PBS today (Sunday August 26, 2007). I cannot believe you have a group complaining about "vicious" comments on internet Blogs and blaming the "left."

At the ripe age of 41, I have NEVER in my life seen more venom and hatred in comments than I have over the past 8 years (Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, Ann Coulter, etc.) AND coming from the "religious" right. Those comments have never seemed very Christian to me.

Believe it or not, I am a rather "centered" person, in politics. I am the wife of a career active duty military man, I voted for Bush in 2004 (something I've regretted ever since), and I voted for Ritter in 2006. I watch your show most Sundays.

It is obvious to me that your program is so skewed as to twist the current political climate away from the utter failures of the current administration and actually have the nerve to WHINE about internet blogs against the Republican party.

I'm sorry, but the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld keystone cops have done the Republican Party in. Don't worry though, our political system is so screwed up that the Democrats will eventually screw up too and you'll be able to CROW from the perch again someday. In the meantime...shut up and color.

I will have a difficult time taking your program seriously again.

And now my response:

Dear Ms. XXXXX,

Thanks for responding regarding the show. I'd like to take a moment to respond to you since you've taken the time to write to me.

First, I don't believe I was "complaining" about "vicious comments", just remarking on their existence, and their excessive prevalence on left-leaning sites versus more conservative sites. I also wasn't "whining" as I find their rhetoric fairly amusing and I believe it lessens their effectiveness so I hope they keep on doing what they're doing. Indeed, I said on the show that I did not think they would have an easy time changing anybody's mind because of the nature of their rhetoric, and since changing minds is the name of the game, I certainly wouldn't be whining or complaining about them.

Second, you may think that you hear venom and hatred in Limbaugh and O'Reilly, but that implies to me that you simply haven't read many political blogs, especially left-leaning blogs which allow nearly unmoderated commentary.

Third, I do not consider myself a conservative, and believe I made that clear on the show. I am, for example, no fan at all of Ann Coulter, nor do I have any use for the religious right as I am a not-particularly-observant Jew who thinks that religion and government should stay far apart from each other. I am pro-choice and for drug legalization (although I have never touched an illegal drug or even a cigarette in my whole life). I am for a strong foreign policy and for limiting government (federal government in particular) to what it is constitutionally authorized to do. I am passionate about liberty and believe it is liberty which has made our country great. I believe that the GOP has done tremendous damage to liberty in the past few years, but I also believe that they may be reformable whereas the Democrats will always be about bigger, more intrusive, and more expensive government. I wrote on my blog that I was glad the GOP got trounced in the last election because at least there's a chance it will focus them on returning to the principles of liberty and limited government. So please don't accuse me of being "skewed" except to the extent that I skew away from authoritarianism, high taxes, over-regulation, and corruption no matter what the source.

Both of my parents served in the US Navy. Although we didn't talk a lot of politics when I grew up, the subtext was always "live and let live", and therefore when I ran across both objectivism and libertarianism, they both struck deep chords with me in terms of relating well to how I already thought, not giving me a new set of beliefs. (To be clear, I disagree with the Libertarian party on enough issues that I usually end up voting for some Libertarians and some Republicans.) For the record, while you're accusing me of being some sort of Republican partisan hack, I will have you know that I NEVER voted for George W. Bush.

Fourth, did you EVER hear me or anyone else on the show stand up for Republicans or cheer Bush, Cheney, or any other member of the administration? I'm not sure about Brad Jones, but I know that Caldara and I are far from "good Republicans", and if you would read my blog and Jon's writings you would see that we both criticize Republicans mercilessly, especially in recent years when they have been such a disaster. Yes, I criticize Democrats more than Republicans, but I think they're wrong more than Republicans and my site does not pretend to be anything other than my opinion and analysis. As for me or Jon crowing, neither of us will do so if Republicans win unless they win on a platform of returning to the first principles of liberty and then work to actually enact those principles. This is about good government, not about cheering for a particular team.

I think you were reading far more into the show than we were saying. We were talking about political blogs, and only political blogs. Of course we didn't say a lot of very positive stuff about left-leaning blogs (simply because we believe they are wrong almost all the time), but not because we are partisan Republicans which we most certainly are not. I think that if you re-watch the show, or even just reconsider what you saw, and realize that 1) the discussion was ONLY about blogging, 2) you didn't hear anybody say anything good about the Republican Party...in fact I don't even recall the word "Republican" being uttered though I may have missed it, and 3) you can verify for yourself what I was saying about comments on left-leaning sites versus libertarian or conservative sites, I think you may reconsider your harsh judgment of what we had to say.

And finally, I applaud you for homeschooling.