Although I am not always in agreement with Jay Currie, I do respect his writing, his thoughtfulness, and they way he
expresses himself. On most issues, Jay and I probably would agree for the most
part. There are possibly some areas of life, philosophy, and recreation where
we might not see eye to eye. But Currie is one of those writers that, if I were
a professional writer, would aspire to be like.
Currie has taken the bull by the horns so to speak, and has started a new
multi-contributor blog called the Urban Conservative. He mused about this some days ago, and I was looking
forward to seeing what would come of it.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected Jay to invite me to be a
participant in this new venture of his! And I feel most intimidated to be
included among the likes of JC himself, Ghost Of A Flea, Sean McCormick, Paul
Jané, and others. All people with whom I share a lot in agreement with, yet
at the same time, share some differences as well. Sometimes, even major
differences.
So I was extremely honoured, flattered, and also very intimidated to share
invitations from Jay with those folk.
I have a huge challenge ahead of me to improve my own thinking and writing
abilities, and I hope I’m up for the challenge. I hope you will excuse me for
feeling a little intimidated by the company I like to keep at this time.
Having said that, I do hope I will be able to offer other alternatives as well,
and even if some Urban Conservatives see me as an odd ball, that my rural
libertarianism will also be seen as viable and thought worthy. In many ways, I
share similar ideals to small ‘c’ conservatives, but at the same time, I also
believe that the revolution of 1776 didn’t go far enough, and I look forward to
another revolution – where we can all proclaim our own personal Declarations Of
Independence. Not a social declaration of independance, but a personal
declaration. That does not mean that those who want to adhere to personal
declarations of independance are not persuaded by other individuals – but
instead, recognize the individual as sovereign over their own lives, and with
that goes with the responsibilities of making whatever choices we make.
And full credit to a man I admire, Craig Green, for the thought of a “personal declaration of independence.” A man who introduced me to Thomas Paine and also provided me with an interesting and profitable outlook on life, that I aspire to
practice more. And a man from whom I stole the motto, “Student of All,
Disciple of none.”
I only hope that I will be able to offer scholarly and well reasoned points of
view for Jay Currie’s new venture. And that my writing skills will improve
tremendously! I am still feeling quite intimidated, but thankful. And I
suppose on a Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada, that’s a good way to feel.