Over the past few months, this site (which turns two years old this month) has been visited by many new readers…so we want to again explain what the site is about and how it works.
I did a dry-run in mid-December 2003, writing The Moderate Voice under a pen name for the first few days and then officially writing it under my own name about 10 days later. The first post said:
Greetings!! Welcome to THE MODERATE VOICE which…we hope….will be a different kind of “blog.” I’m not a Democrat, I’m not a Republican. I’m not a Liberal, I’m not a Conservative. I’m a moderate…but I’m ALWAYS right. I threw that one in to make sure you’re awake. Those are the jokes, folks.
This is a “blog” uninfluenced by left or right talk-radio, unmoved by suggestions that commentary should fit an ideology or be lockstep-loyal to or lockstep-opposed to any political leader. It’s by an authentic registered Independent who sees great merit and flaws in both political parties…..so hopefully here you’ll get a slightly different perspective. As the soldiers in Iraq recently said to the captured Saddam Hussein as they pulled him out of his spiderhole and handed him a bottle of mouthwash: “Enjoy!
That about explains it. But this does not mean we (co-bloggers have joined the site…see below) don’t analyze and take a strong stand on issues. We DO. There are some who feel that being a moderate means you must be a political eunuch — that you can’t take a stand or even passionately take a stand. NOT! And, if you don’t believe me, read this book which documents centrism throughout American history.
Some features about the site:
COMMENTS: We seldom edit them. We’ve banned three readers in two years. (One was someone who left question-mark links in comments and they were spams. Then someone else left question-mark links and we think those were VALID so our banning was a mistake there).
CO-BLOGGERS: Over the course of the past year as we visited weblogs we came to admire some writers who were center, center-right, center-left on some issues but who were independent thinkers if you read their sites. They surprised you and didn’t adhere to a strict party line. We invited them to co-blog. We don’t edit their work and they’re free to express themselves. You can visit their blogs and contact them by clicking on their names under the CONTACT column. Each of them has and is responsible for their own point of view. We admire them for their lively and provocative writing.
DO YOU WANT TO BE A GUEST VOICE? We’ve run some excellent Guest Voice columns (we have to do it sparingly) from time to time from eloquent readers who disagree with a post on this site and want to write an extensive analysis of their own. These are thoughtful posts versus adjective-hurling attacks on parties or politicos.
THE ISSUES AND CYCLES WILL VARY: In the course of this blog’s history, yours truly has been called a member of the “GOP cheer-leading squad” (when I can’t even fit into that dress with my thighs) and a closet liberal who has a secret agenda to pose as moderate (hey, Howard: then where’s my check?). Oh. And some think I was also on the grassy knoll at Dallas, too…
WE WELCOME YOUR IDEAS AND STORY LINKS: One reader (Holly) sent (and sends) us so many news links that we invited her as a co-blogger. If you send a link we may not do something with it due to logistics. This blog is more often than not written on the run (from mobs of readers holding lit torches) and/or after midnight. Emails get stacked up. But we READ all emails (and in answer to many requests, we can’t fit our computer up there because we tried).
BUT IT’S TRUE: Yours truly doesn’t belong to any political party and often votes like this. This IS a site written by an independent voter.
So welcome!
