Throwing my cap over the wall...

I've been kicking around the idea of a blog for a while now and I feel the time is right to throw my cap over the wall. Over the past few years as blogs have taken off, I have visited many and posted my thoughts and opinions on several. There are many blogs out there that play the game of "gotcha" and subsequently do their best to belittle and tear down people. There are just as many that have constructive discussion and will call people out on the carpet to hold them accountable for those comments and actions that are inaccurate, false, or just flat out wrong. This blog will follow the latter approach and offer commentary and analysis on national, state, and regional politics and issues and how they affect REAL PEOPLE.

I chose to name this blog Off K Street, as a way to describe my way of thinking and also how I will approach these discussions. Most people in this country and my home state of Virginia do not think like the political power brokers of K Street in Washington, D.C. There is a huge disconnect between the K Street agendas and what is really going on outside of Washington and even Richmond. Over the course of this blog endeavor I will be commenting on a wide range of issues, current events, political leaders and candidates for office.

Occasionally I will make an appeal to take ACTION and ask readers of my blog to hold their political leaders accountable by meeting or contacting them to support policies of fairness, equity, protects consumers, promotes shared responsibility and considers the common good. Sometimes, the political leaders we consider allies are the very ones we have to hold accountable. I have learned over the years that you can never assume that just because someone has a D or R next to their name, that they will support or oppose the issues and policies that are important to us.

There are lots of people out there that are nervous about all the changes that the shift in our nation's politics will bring. This is understandable. Change is never easy, but when stale thinking and ways of doing things don't work anymore what other choice to you have than to try something different? By throwing my cap over the wall, it will force me to look at the challenges that are in front of me and figure out how I get over the wall to get my cap. Now, this is all very metaphorical but I think it fits the times we live.

Collectively as a nation, we bought into this notion of instant gratification, being entitled to things that we haven't really earned, having accumulated $11 TRILLION in National Debt with a 30 year keg party and stuck our sons, daughters, and the next generation of Americans with the tab. We built this wall, this towering financial obstacle, and now we have to figure out how to get our cap back. Beyond the wall is not just our cap, but opportunities to do things right and better than before.

I have been active in progressive politics and social justice since my first campaign internship back in 1998 while I was a student at North Carolina Central University. Since then, I have traveled this great nation and met lots of people: conservatives and liberals, idealists and syncs, political and apolitical alike. I have friends and colleagues that share many of my views and just as many that are at the other end of what I believe. With that being said, I subscribe to the belief of Voltaire that I might not agree with what you say or believe, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. I also believe that if we only subscribe to one view, one way of thinking, then we end up like the tattered Republican Party of today. Progressives and liberals don't have all the answers either, and we run the risk of going too far to the left. As a nation, we have made good progress on a wide range of social issues but we have also retreated on just as many. I hope that my commentary and analysis generates lively and engaging discussion that also moves people to action. I look forward to your comments and hearing what you have to say.