About Random Idea Generator

1. Ideas, not criticism

One thing I generally dislike about the blogosphere is its lack of innovative ideas. For every blog post with an interesting policy idea, I see about 1000 articles with random criticism, or criticism of the criticism, or ranting about the general evilness of the other side.

Criticism is not interesting. It's hugely important when done right, but if you're only a critic, you're always playing defense. You've already surrendered to the person putting ideas on the table.

I'll definitely do my share of criticism, but I'll always try to do it in the context of tabling ideas.

2. Where I come from

My personal politics is probably best described as "classical liberal", with a streak of libertarian, as well as a bit of Jacksonian hawkishness. I'm not religious, and while I probably live a "socially conservative" lifestyle, I'm more of a "life and let live" type - and insist that anyone promoting a lifestyle leave me alone.

I usually vote Republican, especially since Democrats in my area are hard-left statists who are in bed with civil-service unions.

However, I concede that the modern welfare state isn't going to disappear anytime soon, and there may be uses for it. Therefore, many of my ideas will not so much challenge "first principles" of the welfare state as put forth suggestions for other ways to do things, although I will throw out random ideas that are "out there" (such as my increasing distaste for elections and electoral democracy over other possible forms of having a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people").

Let the games begin!