I already have a blog, to which I have posted very infrequently. So, why a new one?
Over the course of the last year, I have often found myself wanting to react to political decisions or to comments in the traditional media. I have considered writing letters to the editor of my local newspaper , but the size limitations do not allow for arguments to be adequately stated.
I sometimes thought it would be nice to have a regular column, and I realized that the blog is the closest I am going to get. Therefore, I decided to create this new blog, From the Peanut Gallery, for public affairs posts and use The Bohn Blog for lighter fare.
One of my goals here is to take the traditional media to task for reporting on issues based on politics or personalities rather than on their merits. All to often, for example, reports of judicial decisions are concerned with who appointed a judge or the judge’s political party and not with the actual arguments for and against the decision reached. Just yesterday a challenge to the state-certified results of one of last year’s Congressional elections was withdrawn. No news coverage that I could find about the contest actually explained the basis for the challenge; it only reported the “count every vote” or “sore loser” comments of the political parties or the charges or concerns about hypocrisy for trying to “overturn an election.” I hope to be able to comment in depth on this contest in the future.
I also hope to develop in myself and promote in others more critical reading skills by identifying and pointing out where conclusory adjectives and adverbs are used to substitute for rational argument.
It is also my intention to keep the discussion free from insult and invective. Just as it was unseemly for the President of the United States to use derisive nicknames for other public officials, it is inappropriate for members of Congress to describe other States as “moochers” in their arguments seeking to restore the unlimited federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes. The level of discourse in comments on online news sites (if any such sections still exist) is not raised by the anonymity afforded when the commenters hide behind screen names and simply hurl insults. I am signing my posts.
I will not pretend not to have a point of view, but I will try to support it with logic.
This will be a learning experience. Let’s see how it goes.
Jay Bohn
April 1, 2021