After an unannounced hiatus of a considerable amount of time, I’ve decided to return to blogging. How often I’ll post and what I’m going to post will remain, for now, undetermined.

I’m going to begin my return by discussing myself and what I learned over the first two years of this blog and how, I hope, things are going to stay the same – and how they’re going to change.

For a few months, I was toying with the idea of writing a biography of President Nixon. During the course of my study of that great man (which, in turn, was largely inspired by my admiration for Robert Caro’s Years of Lyndon Johnson) there was one particular quote which stuck with me. It’s from Nixon’s farewell address, right before he left the White House, “always remember others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”

Now, I’m going to tell you some things. I’m not, as some have speculated, the originator of some spectacular plot to undermine the right. I am, on my good days, a largely sensible and reasonable person. Of course, the great problem is that sensibility and reason have too often been lost (not just by myself, but often by myself) in recent years. We live in an age of intensity – and that’s a big part of the problem.

If you originally came here because you read something so bizarre and so irrational that you said, “the guy can’t possibly mean it,” you’re probably half-right. The problem with the internet is that it is filled with materials guaranteed to enrage and to enflame the senses. Some days, particularly bad days, I’ll sit and read something written by some leftist somewhere and I’ll just literally shake with rage. And then I’ll write. And that is where my troubles begin.

I’ve resolved to be calmer. In recent months I’ve known a few people who’ve had health scares (or much worse) related directly to stress. I’ve no interest in dropping dead at my desk at the age of forty-five because I don’t like what gets posted on Democratic Underground or I don’t like the content of my hate email. So, I’m going to try to be better. I probably won’t always be successful. But that, of course, is the nature of the struggle.

Now, to get back to Nixon, the fundamental problem is that, when you’re merely motivated by hate of your enemies, you can’t see beyond that. That’s why Nixon and his comrades were wiling to go along with obviously ill-advised schemes in order to attack a Democratic Party that they were obviously going to defeat. They were so obsessed with their hatred of the left that they were incapable of seeing the broader picture.

The same thing is true of the Democrats today with regard to President Bush. Anyone can see that President Bush has political vulnerabilities. Everyone saw that last year. But the Democrats limited – and continue to limit – their ability to capitalize upon those limits because they’re so blinded by rage that they’re unable to do anything beyond sputter and shout.

Alright – I don’t want to go on forever.

Oh, and to my faithful fans on that other site, I’ll simply note that I’ve been aware of you from the beginning and, while obviously I do not much agree with what you say, I’ll simply add that I appreciate the attention.

And, to that end, I’ve re-added comments to the blog. Whether or not I keep them is, well, another open question.