My New Sobriety: What Happened to Democracy 2.0?

ON EDIT: Democracy 2.0 is now back up and running at d2.stevemagruder.com.

Greetings everyone.

I assume you're wondering what happened to Democracy 2.0 as well as my other sites.

Well, I made a hard life decision, but it's one that I think will turn out to be more beneficial to what I was trying to achieve in the first place. Let me explain...


First, with my increasing proliferation of websites (political, personal, professional), I am noticing that I am losing focus on what means the most to me: making a difference in the political world, especially with respect to the issues I care most about. This is not the first time I've lost focus in my life--in fact, losing focus has become a staple of my character. Neverthless, I just decided that it is high time to stop that behavior. I need to focus focus focus on what means the most to me--getting out my thoughts in a clear and complete manner without obstruction.

Second, related to the focus thing, as an IT professional, I was letting the advance of my programming skills get in the way of producing content. No more. I recently decided to exit the IT profession due to many factors which make any further involvement in it just plain unworkable--these factors are too numerous and difficult for me to discuss in this article. At any rate, I've found myself concentrating almost solely on how I would get my message out, while rarely spending any time on what the message is. As of this article, I hereby slap myself vigorously with cold water.

Third, with my ongoing research into matters surrounding the expansion of public involvement in deciding public policy matters (i.e., "a more direct democracy"), I have come to realize that I have boxed myself in a narrow approach to these matters. To fully discuss these kinds of issues, I honestly can't always be nonpartisan, as sometimes partisan forces do things to negate public participation--and things like this cannot be ignored if I am to be effective. Further, I believe that there are many other political issues related to democracy and public sovereignty that almost always seem to escape full public discourse. Thus, I will strive to:

1. break outside this box I created and deliver articles that people will find simultaneously relevant and fresh;
2. transcend what currently passes for political discussion in the United States; and
   
3. be bold and timely.

Fourth (and last), with my ongoing change in careers (including this stab at writing), I can no longer afford the hosting that my websites require. This combined with the effect of my lost focus meant that I was going nowhere with the spent resources. I have to come to the stark reality that what I've been doing just won't work.

Therefore, I am starting this blog and bringing down my websites.

To those who enjoyed these websites, I hereby apologize and hope that you will stay with me and explore the issues raised in this blog. If you choose not to stay, I wish good tidings for you and yours (note: you'll always be welcome to return at any time).

As always, thank you very much for your time and support.

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By the way, since this blog is new, I'm very open to making naming, description and style changes. If you have any ideas, please feel free to send them my way.

Stay tuned for my first regular article. I hope to write something new every day (or at least every other day). I have a lot of ideas in my head. Of course, feel free to comment on the articles and to submit ideas for new ones. I am even open to providing opportunities for guest articles. The channel is open!

So, here goes....