Third Blogoversary!

test - I am done with this blog. Blogging is over for me; three years was enough. Bye.
Carpundit - August 8, 2007

Three years ago today, Porcupine began his reconsituted political writing with this post - Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself...

As this Blogoversary approached, Porcupine considered the 'CarPundit Solution'. Porcupine had gained new responsibilities in the last three years, including a different and more traditional venue for political prognosticating. And yet - as the cartoon below describes - there was a comelling reason to continue with this incarnation of Porcupine's Gazette -

Also, Porcupine needed to consider if he wished to continue to hide his identity - about every 18 months, Porcupine is outed, usually by a Democrat who is losing an argument. Over a year ago, in explaining an attack on Blue Mass Group, Porcupine wrote, "I was maliciously outed by a person who had hoped to get me fired. 'Nuff said about him. I chose to write not only with a pseudonym but as a persona - that of a person, William Cobbett, who wrote under a pseudonym at the birth of the free political press. I try, when I write, to espouse his point of view, and use quotes and citations which he would have known or approved of. It is part of the flavor of my blog. Also, I wanted my IDEAS considered on their merits - not just as a product of such and such a person, who could be dismissed. I've never posted anything I am ashamed to own. But people write with different styles, and surely the masked ball aspect of the Internet is part of its charm."

Even earlier, in a discussion about the use of 'handles' and pseudonums on blogs and message boards, Porcupine had written this - I was AT the Constitutional Convention (the discussion was about the use of pseudonyms by the Founding Fathers). For fifty bucks, I'll tell you who Publius was! Seriously, when I began blogging, I deliberately chose a persona from that era - William Cobbett, ex-soldier and rabble rouser, who chose to write under the name Peter Porcupine. Cobbett, in his day, was the most widely read author in North America - and other people in Philadelphia didn't know exactly who he was, and argued about it. Cobbett's belief was that the IDEA was paramount, and should stand or fall on its own merits, independent of personality, religion, class, gender, and all the other markers used to decide if an idea was 'worthy' of consideration. That attitude was my goal in blogging - to be a disembodied intellect. It's no accident that at the beginning of the last great change in public communication befoe the internet, the pamphlet, most writers did use a nom de plume (or guerre). I absolutely agree about building up a 'track record' - but Charley and Ernie Boch both have, in their own way. Until the Globe article, I hadn't a clue who Charley was - but exchanged emails with him anyway, phantom to phantasm. Obvious bias will always out (did I ever mention I backed Kerry Healey?) and I wouldn't be overly concerned with who's working on what campaign. Instead, pay attention to the words and the ideas because in the final analysis they are the only things that count.

So, Porcupine has reached two decisions - the blog will continue (perhaps mre dilatory, but it will keep on), and Porcupine sees no need to expose his true identity to the world. As things stand, it COULD be that guy next to you in the supermarket, or the clerk at the drugstore, or....And, as tribute to The Blogfather, Walter Brooks, Porcupine cheerily offers this image, stolen from his blog just the way he taught Porcupine to do...