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When
I launched Bacon's Rebellion two-and-a-half years
ago as a website/electronic newsletter, the technology
was fairly edgy. Although websites were old hat,
electronic newsletters still had that fresh, new-car
smell. Certainly, no one else had launched a opinion
newsletter with an exclusive focus on Virginia politics,
public policy and economic development. But the Internet
kept evolving, and I soon found myself eating ether.
Blogs,
or web logs, were a curiosity when I'd started the
Rebellion. I honestly didn't see much value in them at
the time. But as the 2004 presidential elections
unfolded, the blog phenomenon came into its own. Blogs
helped dethrone Howell Raines, the executive editor of
the New York Times, and they unmasked the forged
documents broadcast by Dan Rather on CBS. Like talk
radio, they provided viewpoints that couldn't get
through the filter of the Mainstream Media. But unlike
the talk shows, where the interaction with listeners was
inherently rushed and superficial, blogs allowed people
to reflect upon their written words before committing
them to the public domain.
The
best blogs also offered something that Bacon's
Rebellion could not. Blog editorials were short and
pithy--only a few paragraphs at most. They were
published daily, usually commenting on news that broke
the same day, making them even more timely than
newspaper editorials. But best of all, readers could
talk back. There was no waiting a month or more, as is
typically the case with Bacon's Rebellion, to see
one's prose in (digital) print.
As
publisher of Bacon's Rebellion, my goal is to
combine the best of both media. We will continue to
e-mail a biweekly newsletter with in-depth,
well-written, magazine-style commentary in electronic
format. We will continue to archive all of our back
columns on the Web. But now, beginning with this issue,
when news hits, our columnists don't have to wait two
weeks to talk about it. If so moved, they can post their
spin on the blog and start hashing it out with readers
within a matter of minutes.
Ideally,
Bacon's Rebellion columns provide depth while the blog
delivers speed. As a bonus, blogging technology allows
readers to respond to the authors--and to each other--in
a way not possible with a newsletter. Readers, please
note: Every column published in Bacon's Rebellion now
links you to a "comments" page on the blog
where you can respond not only to the author but to the
world at large.
Digital
media is democratizing the flow of information. No
longer can a handful of editors and political reporters
employed by four or five daily newspapers decide what
constitutes news in Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion
and an increasing number of other electronic
outlets--the Augusta Free Press, Virginia News
Source, and scads of blogs--have a small but growing
say.
I
am particularly proud of how Bacon's Rebellion
columnists have dissected the transportation funding
"crisis" in Virginia with a thoroughness and
insight that far surpasses the coverage of Virginia's
big daily newspapers. Likewise, no one else in Virginia
comes close to covering technology policy like our
columnist Doug Koelemay. No one has plumbed the
intricacies of land use like Ed Risse. No one serves up
insider's political analysis any better than our house
Democrat Barnie Day or our house Republican Pat
McSweeney.
But
Bacon's Rebellion doesn't just spout opinion and
theory. We conduct citizen journalism. Take a look at
this week's edition. Michael
Thompson reports on several efficiency-in-government
bills working their way through the General Assembly. Steven
Sisson interviews the two Democratic candidates for
Lieutenant Governor. And Phil
Rodokanakis puts the magnifying glass to the
budget-busting voting record of state Sen. Russell
Potts, R-Winchester.
Mike,
a retired entrepreneur, runs the Jefferson Institute, a
Virginia-focused think tank in Northern Virginia. Steve
works for Coors Brewery in Rockingham County. Phil runs
his own forensic accounting practice, also in Northern
Virginia. We have attorneys, urban planners, bankers,
consultants, university professors and government
employees contributing to the Rebellion. No one pays
them a dime for their writing. They work out of passion,
conviction and love for the Commonwealth.
The
diversity of our columnists' viewpoints pales in
comparison, however, to what's possible with a blog. Any
reader can partake of the Bacon's Rebellion
blog as long as he or she obeys two cardinal rules.
1.
The subject matter must have a bearing on politics,
public policy or economic development in Virginia.
2.
Participants must always address one another with
civility.
(I
reserve the right to add more cardinal rules as
experience dictates.)
Like
all other contributors, I have my own partisan and
ideological leanings. And, if you haven't noticed, I'm
also really opinionated. But I don't pretend to hold a
monopoly on the truth. Yes, I believe in fiscal
conservatism, limited government, free markets and an
aristocracy of merit. But even more fundamentally, I
believe in the power of reason and the necessity of
subjecting one's ideas to the scrutiny of others.
Bacon's
Rebellion is not a place where you can count on
finding views that comfortably and reliably resemble
your own. Bacon's Rebellion is a cock pit where
you bring your ideas, take off their hoods and set them
loose to do battle with others.
Bacon's
Rebellion-The Blog is experimental. To ensure a
diversity of perspectives and interests, I have enabled
several Bacon's Rebellion columnists--those who submit
one or more columns each edition--to post news and
commentary to the blog. Any reader can comment on those
original posts. We will entertain the widest possible
range of ideas, short of promoting civil insurrection.
(Nathaniel Bacon would be disappointed, I suppose, at
the wussiness of the rebellion being conducted in his
name.)
We
will not tolerate ad hominem attacks on participants who
post messages or respond to them. We ask all
participants to respond to the substance of the
argument. Those who refuse to treat others with courtesy
and respect do not warrant courtesy or respect in
return. Offenders will be banished from this small
corner of the blogosphere.
May
the blogging begin.
--
January 31, 2005
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