Moving On

I woke up this morning energized. I've spent a fair amount of money, time, emotional energy, and blog real estate on this election. It's over and my guy lost. That's the way it goes. I am moving on.

There's some great stuff going on at work which I hope to be able to blog about soon.

The shape of this blog will change. Less politics. More venture and technology. Maybe more music. Maybe more of something else too. Who knows?

I don't plan to stop talking about my politics, but I know I'll have less to say for now.

It will be interesting to see how these changes affect my traffic.

Comments

[jackson]

I haven't read Jeff's pledge, but I think I know what it's about. I don't think I can make that pledge. I don't, can't and won't support G.W. I may have to live with the facts, but I don't have to like them, and silence equals death. So my pledge is to be on the ass of this administration every step of the way. I will not go gentle into that goodnight. Nope. Not this guy.

[Tony Alva]

Jackson. Read the pledge.

[Mandown]

Poor losers are just that, Losers.

Are you taking Jarvis' pledge, Fred?

[billg]

Fred....the same thought occurred when I got to work today. There was no negative discussion about politics...just positive discussion about new products, new opportunities, new potential. Very refreshing and energizing.

There is too much untapped opportunity.......so, why waste precious time and energy bitching or complaining about things in the past?

2005 will be a great year...and I'm not going to miss a beat in making it happen.

[jackson]

I read the pledge, It's crap. If this was a game, I'd be happy to shake hands and not be a 'sore loser', but I am sore, and I did lose, and it is not a game.

[Chevsky]

As a Canadian (living in Canada), I have to say that I'm kind of depressed about the election results. And, in the past, I would normally even considered myself a Republican (if I were choosing). However, in the last four years, the convergence of church and state in the United States is nothing but scary in my mind. And, to have the #1 issue to be moral values - is this the #1 resposibility of government? As an outsider, I can say that the rest of the world is pretty disappointed (even us little guys to the north). It's a sad thing when the average citizen either doesn't know or doesn't care how the U.S. is perceived by the rest of the world - and don't get me wrong, I'm a supporter.

[jackson]

I take that back, Jarvis' Pledge is NOT crap, it's just not MY pledge. I do agree that running naked and drunken through the streets is good fun. Maybe that'll cheer me up some.

[Jeremy C. Wright]

As far as traffic, if you're seeing spikes on a particular issue, I've found traffic tends to settle down to: previous traffic + (traffic spike/2). Ditto on links, Technorati gains, etc.

Which menas if you can continue to engineer spikes, your traffic should grow beyond the typical 20-30% most blogs enjoy.

[Gordon Gould]

I have to say I also think think the jeff's pledge is a bad idea. It is essentially an appeasement strategy where the hope is that by being polite/nice, Bush will throw us a bone.

Bad idea, imho. for my full comments, see http://gould.weblogsinc.com/entry/6291976086575276/

[Hector]

No gloating here from me, but Kerry was a terrible candidate. You guys know it and you better find a leader for your party that is more conservative on social issues or you'll get bitch slapped even harder in 08. You lost considerable ground in your own black and hispanic base this time, and that trend will continue if you don't change.

All in all, this blog is not just a place for liberal commisserating, but it's an excellent example of how many liberals really loathe democracy and have no idea how to govern by compromising with the opposition. The anti-christian bigotry is repugnant here.

[jackson]

Hector, you remind me of someone who would go to someone's house for dinner and then spend the evening saying what a shithole the place was.

[hey]

i troll occasionally on politics, but i really do like fred's posts on vc and tech...

as to what hector is saying, he's pretty on the money... jackson specifically needs to have a couple scotches and get off the ledge... remember, you have to get this worked up about every republican that runs or wins any office anywhere near you... if you don't let go of your bush hate, you won't have any room to remember to hate even fake republicans like bloomberg, and where would we be without that?

[jackson]

Without endorsing Hector's hate, I agree with Hey. Except the ledge bit, I'm nowhwhere near it, but I, and anyone else who woke up for this election, need to stay awake and keep participating.

[steve]

perhaps its time for MoveOn.org to... Move On?

[Tom Evslin]

OK. I voted for George Bush and I'll take Jeff's pledge. In spite of getting what I wanted, I'm nervous and will be watching. Here's why:

1. It always makes me nervous when the same party controls the presidency and both houses of congress. When it comes to an activist government, a little deadlock can be useful impedance.

2. Fundamentalists of any stripe are scary. What I am afraid of is fundamentalist induction: fundamentalist Moslem extremists strengthen fundamentalist Christian and Jewish extremists and, between them all, they end up setting the agenda for the world. The fact that the Moslem extremists ARE a real threat makes it harder not to make common cause with other extremists against them. But no one is more dangerous than the person who believes that God has told him personally whom to kill.

3. George Bush hasn't been good at saying he's made a mistake. That's very dangerous because you're going to make lots of mistakes in an uncertain world so survival depends on being able to correct them quickly. You can't correct them quickly if you don't acknowledge them. The excuse has been that acknowledging mistakes during an election just creates ammunition for your enemies and there's truth to that but it's still an excuse. Well, Bush said this was his last campaign so that excuse is gone.

BTW, it's not that I think going into Iraq was wrong even if there were no WMDs. Saddam bluffed WMDs to scare the world and our reaction was rational. Moreover, he's gone and that's neither an injustice nor a hardship to most Iraqis. Life isn't great for them now; it was worse for most before.

We didn't plan, apparently, for their army fading away and coming back as "resistance". It was a mistake, understandable but still a mistake. We could deal with it better if we acknowledged it. Remember, the armchair colonels were saying that we wouldn't be able to win the overt war with the troops that Rumsfeld had committed; we did but we haven't won the peace yet. With hindsight, we should have been more ruthless in destroying retreating forces.

Not finishing the 1st assault on Falujah was a mistake. We made it for the best of reasons but it was a mistake. We seem to be ready to correct that.

4. I'm worried about freeloaders. This means France and Germany as far as defense is concerned and most of the world with regards to drug research.

Businessmen from Germany have told me that the strategy of the German left is simple: what the US is doing is necessary but very costly; the best strategy for them is to condemn it because we'll do it anyway. They get points for opposing America and still get all the benefits of our action without paying Euros or lives (I don't communicate well with French businessmen so have no insight into their strategy but plenty of Francophobe suspicions).

Ironically, in a Kerry administration, they might have worried whether the US would take the lion's share of the burden of combating Moslem extremism so they might have had to ante up. In Bush II 2, they don't have this worry so probably will continue their freeloading.

Americans pay an "outrageous" amount for prescription drugs (the reason for the quotes is that "outrageous" is hard to define for something that saves your life). That's because we pay 100% of the cost of drug research and the profits which incent it while the rest of the world pays, roughly, the small cost of goods for manufacturing already discovered drugs. Don't know how we get out of this one.

But I'm optimistic, too:

Suppose you're making policy in North Korea or Iran. It made sense two days ago to hang tough; much better to negotiate with John Kerry.

Big mistake: Americans have said (or, at least, a majority of us have said) "we will go it alone if we have to" and "we won't wait for the proof a UN diplomat might think wise". George is around for four more years.

Maybe they get rational.

Anyway, it's the best of times and the worst of times - hopeful and scary. It may have, in the end, have been Bush's optimism that won. It's our best trait.

I take the pledge.

[Tony Alva]

Bravo Tom... Well stated. I too cast my vote for W with much the same trepedation. I know that most on this blog feel otherwise, but we need to show the world our resolve and zero tolerance for terrorism whether we go it alone or not. With any luck that jackass who is cutting off the heads of aid workers in Iraq is hanging around Fallujah for a fight because I think he's going to get one here soon. I pray for our guys as they engage in what will surely be a block by block ground offensive on a grand scale.

I am also taking the Jarvis pledge.

McCain in 2008!

[Hector]

Tom: your post was one of the most insightful I've read in a long time on this blog. I've always thought you were a good exec when we partnered with your team at MSFT, and now I see your political judgment matches up to your business judgment. What galls me is how guys like Fred and his village idiot brother Jackson claim be capable of investing other people's money but simultaneously have some of the most pedestrian, cliche political views among allegedly educated people I know. They just had their ass handed to them in an election and the arrogance has only swelled . Get real. It's this groupthink that just lost you an election you should have won easily. The south has been your farm club for presidential talent for the for decades and you just saw it get crushed. Responsible Democrats should holding people accountable, making changes, and talking seriously about ditching the Moore-Franken-Dean wing of the party for good. Ignore this advice at your peril, Democrats.

Yours,

Hector

P.S. Jackson I don't hate you. You just creep me out, that's all.

[boris]

Hello

im European (specifically italian) and ive always been prone to the republican values of free market and small government..well this is just to say im not your typical eurotrash leftist, still i feel very appalled by the fact this administration had to rely on religious freaks (sorry i know its not exactly a respectful expression but nothing else comes up to my mind) for this election. I mean...ban on gay marriage and stem cell research ??? this is only gonna bring down the US among the ranks of the most backward western nations (where by the way my Italy is happily sliding too). Every piece of research shows that the most competitive economies of the world are the nordic nations and the countries of the far east. In both places the role played by religion in their society is minimal (scandinavia has probably the lowest church attendance in the world). i personally think there's an obvious link beetween tolerant (even decaying and sleazy) secular customs and the economic success of a society. as far as im concerned christianity (and islam and judaism etc. etc.) just spell overall decline. I mean what you guys are gonna do when let's say a very smart young gay arab (or russian or romanian or south american or whatever) Phd. in search of better opportunities and a more free life is gonna choose Sweden instead of the US ?

Regards

Boris