Thinking About Checking Out of Blogging
I am not sure I am able to continue blogging in the current environment. When I began blogging over 12 years ago, it was to report on my various adventures in trying to run a small business. It soon morphed into a platform for me to think out loud about various policy issues. For example, while I didn't really understand this when I started, it became a platform for me to think through mistakes I made in my initial enthusiasm for the Iraq War. You can see me in the early years evolve from a kind of knee-jerk global warming absolute denier to a lukewarmer with much more understanding of the underlying science. I think of myself as an intellectual (though one who cannot spell or proof-read) who likes to discuss policy.
But I am not sure this is the time for that. The world seems to be moving away from intellectualism. I say this not because Trump voters were somehow rejecting intellectualism, but because intellectuals themselves seem to be rejecting it. They act like children, they are turning universities into totalitarian monoculters, and they compete with each other to craft mindless 140-character "gotchas" on Twitter. I challenge you to even find a forum today for intellectual exchange between people who disagree with one another. In politics, Trump clearly rejects intellectualism but for whatever reasons, the Democratic opposition has as well.
We have a tribal war going on in this country that has officially gone beyond any real policy issues. While the US and the Soviet Union had real differences in philosophy and approach, most of their confrontations were in proxy wars which bore little resemblance to these values. That is what politics are now -- a series of proxy wars. We spend several days focusing attention on Jeff Sessions, but spend pretty much zero time talking about real issues like approaches to the drug war, and police accountability, and sentencing reform. Instead all we can focus on is the political proxy war of this stupid Russia hacking story. Obama's birth certificate and Hillary's servers and Russian hacking and Trump's real estate sales -- all we fight are proxy wars.
And like most tribal warfare, the two tribes are incredibly similar. I have called them the Coke and Pepsi party for years. Go talk to the the rank and file and sure, one group may like Nascar and barbecue while the other likes Phish concerts and kale, but you will see them asking for the same sorts of things out of government. Take the minimum wage, a traditional blue tribe issue. In Arizona, a heavily red state (we have a super-majority in the legislature of the red team), a $10 minimum wage referendum passed by nearly 60% of the vote last year. The members of the two tribes absolutely hate each other, but they support the same laws. I guess I should be happy they don't get together, since as a libertarian I think many of these things they want are bad ideas.
People tell me I need to just deal with the adversity. But I don't mind opposition per se. I love when I get a chance to respond to real criticism. Hell, I wrote 5000 words or so here in response to such criticism. It's fun. But more likely nowadays I will write a couple thousand words on school choice and the response will be, in total, "Your a Trump cuckservative." Several years ago I wrote a long article on rail in response to a Joel Epstein piece. Epstein had argued the US rail rail system was inferior to those in Europe and Asia because we don't have enough passenger rail. I argued with a series of charts and analysis that the US rail system was superior because it focused on freight over passengers, and that shifting freight to rail had far more environmental benefits than shifting passengers to rail. Epstein's entire response to my article was, "You should get out of the country more often." This is the classic intellectual argument of our day. It was smug. It implied my article was based on being part of the wrong tribe, the narrow-minded denizens of flyover country rather than the coastal set that have been to Gstaad but not Tulsa. At it did not even bother addressing the issues raised.
Or look at Black Lives Matter. BLM actually had what looked to me to be the outlines of a pretty good plan. To really achieve their goals, though, was going to take a lot of work jurisdiction by jurisdiction, establishing some model legislation and best practices and bringing it to various municipalities. It didn't even try. It abandoned this plan in favor of just disrupting sh*t and shaming the unwoke for saying that "all lives matter." Today, invocations of BLM consist pretty much 100% of virtue signalling for one's own tribe or shaming of the other tribe. Its the equivalent of dueling fans at a game yelling "Yankees suck!" "No, Red Sox suck!"
People also tell me to just deal with it, that if I love the policy stuff I should ignore these problems. But let me give you an analogy. Let's say you absolutely love English Premier League football, but every time you try to go to a game, you miss most of what happens on the field because hooligans are fighting around you in the stands. Do you keep going for your love of football or at some point is the mess that surrounds it just too much?
Anyway, I am highly tempted just to say "screw it" for a while and focus on something else entirely. I am trying a different approach as a change of pace, trying to write a more formal policy piece for a think tank, but I am having a surprising amount of trouble doing it well. Writing such pieces was not really my forte at McKinsey when I was a consultant and I am not sure it is now. Not disciplined enough in my writing, I think.
Anyway, on a positive front, I now have a dedicated (though very small) room for my model railroad and I installed the first bit of benchwork. This is sort of like laying the keel for a new ship. Coyoteblog readers, I know, will be hanging on the edges of their seats for further updates.
From Parks and Recreation:
Jean-Ralphio: Why don’t you use that time to go after one of your passions? Like model trains, or toy Gandalfs or something.
Ben: I don’t know why you jumped straight to model trains. I mean, it’s accurate…
This is what it's like to be at the top of your game. When the refutation of a well reasoned and supported argument amounts to a Bronx Cheer, then it means they have no counter argument. You are on the right path.
BLM is just the latest movement that started out as a cause that is then captured and converted into a machine. A machine to extract money from the wallets of individuals, businesses and government. No surprise there. Hard to find causes that don't move in this direction eventually.
Universities lost their way long ago. Great universities use to take pride in providing an outstanding education and crappy facilities. They were a proving ground for the mind not a luxury cruise on land. Now though they work for government to satisfy the whims of the students. Want water slides, movie theaters and international restaurants with international staff? No problem. Want to fire professors you don't like, provide trigger warnings and safe spaces, offer degrees in trivia, ban taco's or eliminate grades below a B? No problem. Want a great education? Er um well ahh. What are you a racist?
I don't know about you, but I gave up on being popular long ago. I have my circle of friends and family and that works for me. But even though I might not be the guy at work people want to hang out with, I am the guy they want leading their project. I'm the guy opposing sides ask for when they have to work out a settlement. I'm the guy who provide the new direction when folks run into a blind corner. Did I wish for popularity in the past? Sure but I'm just not wired that way. I can't go along to get along.
I'm going to say something unpopular once again. Your blogging provides value to others and that's all that should concern you. Only when people stop reading your blog, should you consider shutting it down. This likely sounds selfish on my part and it might be. But I believe we humans have an obligation to offer to others those talents that are uniquely ours. Notice I said offer, I am not advocating force. I am not saying you should be punished for quitting. I am saying that you have a gift for clear communication and you should honor that gift by providing it to the world.
**The monetary issues are a problem that I thought would be worked out long ago with micro payments. I thought by now that there would be a slot on each blog allowing the readers to drop a coin to read that blog. Something simple and anonymous. Maybe someday.
Let me just add my voice to the many in saying, please don't.
Warren I like you sensible musings. As a european I not always get the specific US issues though. Please don't stop, as you can see you have many fans. If you feel you must then so be it.
This is absolutely one of my favorite blogs. I fear I don't comment enough on great posts. The US rail system post you mention, for instance -- that had a huge effect on my thinking on the subject. In general, you provide an illuminating thoughtful small businessman perspective I don't see anywhere else on the web.
And as I say every time I see the subject come up, I'd love to see model railroad posts too!
I find Coyote blog to be unique. The author is employed in a for-profit business. I don't know of any blogs that are well written and written by a for-profit business owner that cover the topics this one does. There are authors that write on the same topics but are employed by a non-profit that really exempts them from the toil and trouble present in private enterprise.
If Warren checks out I would certainly understand as he is not paid for his toil. I wonder if there is an understudy to be found that would have a similar perspective.
I would be utterly bereft if you stopped blogging. I depend on you to give me a point of view that is often different from anything I have thought myself or seen written elsewhere, always sensible and factual. There are many of your posts that I return to repeatedly, especially when I feel bogged down by the partisan rhetoric everywhere else. It helps a lot simply knowing there is a calm clear rational thinker nearby who doesn't go overboard on one-sided rants. You write as if you are talking to me, so I almost feel like I know you. A rare voice of calm reason. Don't know who to replacce you with if you stop.
The insights from you on running a business are just about the only source I have for learning about the real-life consequences of government regs and the incentives they create in business and in employees. So much otherwise good libertarian or conservative thought is written by people who are journalists or lawyers or politicians or academics. I've spent my long adult life mainly arguing with academics, who to a person have never owned, managed or even worked in a for-profit business enterprise, but their ignorance of human economic behavior never stops them from passing judgment on policy based entirely on good intentions or an attempt to shape peoples' behavior.
Warren please keep blogging. I do not always agree with your position, but you are a must read for me in his wilderness.
Hi, Warren
I'm a latecomer to the "Please stay" party, but please count my vote toward that your blogging is a valuable service that I much appreciate. I organize my RSS feeds into high, medium, and low categories and your's is one of the few high ones, meaning I almost always read it as soon as it comes out. Thank you!
thank you for all your efforts and great post
I am glad you have kept at it. You have taught me a lot and opened my eyes to challenges you face and how different jurisdictions are choking your businesses. It's cliché but it is during these types of times when efforts like yours are most needed. Keep up the good fight (and good luck with your trains too).