Why are we all such recordists? [...]
Everyone’s taking everything down as if it’s historical, as if it’s historic.
As if it’s witty or sums up the Times.
All of us confident, all of us acquiver with self-importance.

And why is that, indeed? Why are there so many memoirs published, many of them by people otherwise unknown? Why do people get the urge to blog? Why do I write these thoughts in a public venue instead of in a diary or journal?

I have no answers, of course, answers requiring (again) coherent thought (at least).

In the last few weeks or so, Kevin Drum on CalPundit has cautioned a few times against "blog triumphalism", the idea that blogging is a new and terribly influential factor in the nation's political intercourse. I understand what he's saying, that's it's too new and too limited in its scope and therefore shouldn't be credited with more influence than it has, but I think the flip side is that for people, like myself, who have discovered political blogs, there's been a revelation of an entirely new and hiterto unknown layer of discourse. It's not a uninformed barroom argument (although it can share some of the characteristics of one), but neither is it the usual give-of-take of the same-old annointed elites of punditry. It's a treasure trove of voices most of whom I would never have been exposed to, except for the vehicle of blogging

So while it's good to avoid overselling the blog factor, it's also good to celebrate blogs, especially political blogs (and most especially liberal political blogs) as, overall, a very positive thing. Without them, I wouldn't have "met" the Same Old Gang of liberal bloggers I listed above, all of whom have done much to help clarify for me our dire political situation. I don't know why they, in particular, and other liberal bloggers as well, were driven to become public recordists of these times and their thoughts on it, but I'm certainly glad they did.

Update (9/21/03): That ranking above, #966, is rather deceptive, because on the TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem, which I take to be a more accurate representation of blogging status, I'm currently lowly #3296, and dwell in the "Crusty Crustacean" category (sounds like something from "Sponge Bob Square Pants"), only three slots up from the bottom.

Still, I take comfort from the thought that there are almost a thousand bloggers below me, while I try to overtake the more than three thousand above me on my way to world dominance.

It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
Gore Vidal

Many thanks to my 15 Loyal Readers who keep me out of the cellar!