A Brief Note to My Loyal Subscribers
Q: "What are your four answers, mister?" A: "Sir, 'Yes sir, no sir, no excuse sir and sir I do not understand.'"
I wanted to pen this brief note/status summary to those of you who have been kind enough to subscribe to my Substack writings. I want to briefly address three things: (1) My purpose and intent in publishing articles here, (2) What I will seek and what you can expect in terms of frequency of posts, and (3) A very brief personal note about the status of those efforts. So, here they are, followed by a simple request at the end:
Why — I strongly believe that our country is in the throes of what could be an existential crisis. I don’t want to overstate the danger because I normally think of an “existential” crisis as one that threatens the very existence of a country (or some other entity). Think France in 1940, Japan in 1945, or, in a business context, the threat to the then-ubiquitous Blackberry devices posed by the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. For that matter, think of printed newspapers today.
The risk and characterizations of an existential crisis can be overblown, and I don’t want to fall into that pit. So, to be clear, I don’t think that the United States of America will cease to exist. But I do submit that the United States’ existence as a constitutional republic is at great risk. I will not belabor the reasons I say this here, as they would merit a separate and rigorous article of their own. Perhaps I shall turn to that in an article later.
I do believe that there are great threats to our republic, both foreign and domestic, but I am no longer able to fight for our country as many of us could when we were younger. I think that the only way I can assist in the fight now is to not be silent and to try to raise my voice to resist some of the current dangerous trends and hopefully to spur others to do the same. It is my hope that my writing, when combined with hundreds or thousands of others,’ may provide some small contribution to informing people and resolving our current crises. This will not involve the endorsement of any political candidate. Like most of you I will have my preferences, but although personalities are important, I am more interested in issues. And that is what I will continue to address. Because of my background I typically will focus on issues that relate to military or legal matters. So that is why I have launched this venture on Substack.
When — I was previously writing for The Federalist (and may still contribute to it), but only did so when a particular topic grabbed my attention and interest. Sometimes I had two articles published in a week and several in a month, while other times due to the demands of my legal practice, I went for months without publishing anything. Recently, a friend, Professor Glenn Reynolds, — the famous and irreplaceable Instapundit — recommended that I start publishing here. Because all of you have subscribed, I feel obligated to try to publish more often. My general target is roughly weekly, but in some weeks, I may double up, while I may miss other weeks. Weekly is a goal, not an obligation.
No excuse, sir/ma’am — Having set out my goal above, I feel obligated to add a personal note explaining why I have not been able to put up anything in over a week and may not be able to do so for a short (hopefully) period. I was educated at an institution where for the first year one of only four answers permitted to any question by an upperclassman was “No excuse, sir.”
Because of that background, I am a bit reluctant to offer this. But I felt obligated to explain the delay and why I have not produced anything recently, especially for those who have just subscribed in the past week or so, as well as those who have been kind enough to opt for a paid subscription.
Since publishing my last article (“Who Are the “Elites” Anyway?”) on August 10, I have been occupied by preparation to get rid of a troublesome tumor. The surgery was this past Wednesday, and I am now in the recovery phase. It is my third bout with cancer surgery this year. I hate to even mention this (much less confess an iota of weakness or be perceived as seeking sympathy!), but it tends to leave one a tad wrung out and unable for a while to compose a decent article. So, please don’t interpret my delay in getting anything published as a lack of attention, motivation or interest.
One last request — As I have previously mentioned, although I really appreciate those of you who have opted for a paid subscription, I am doing this for the reasons I stated above, not for money. So, what I ask is that each subscriber forward a link to this account to at least ten of your friends. You can do that with either one of my previous articles or the next one that I am able to post. Help get the word out!
Many thanks to all of you.
John Bravo Blue