Over the course of the next 21 days I will be slowly, tantalizingly rolling out the Tony(c) Awards. Instead of one big post on all my favorites, I do it the way the Nobel Committee does it, over the course of a few days. Why?
1. It gives me a lot of posts and one never knows when I will announce another so maybe I will coerce a few potential winners into reading and commenting on the blog over the last few weeks of the year, and
2. It is my award and I can
Now, less anybody here believe that the (c) is a copyright or that I am laying claim to the Awards that honor Broadway's greatest shows (which btw is a far better show than the Oscars and Grammy's and all the other garbage award shows put together) I am not. It is just that as many of our readership knows I sign off on most of my e-mails with the end TonyC. and since that is my name and my sign off, I thought it would be apt to name these awards that way.
In case anyone is wondering why I of all people should have an award named after me, or better why anyone should care who I think blogged best this year, I will point you to this post by one of my Blogging mentors Dennis Kennedy who each year gives out his Blawggies. (Find it in the 12-26-04 post at the end.)
Now if you don't want to read the blogs I read, or if you think this is a bad idea, or a good idea, give out your own awards and give a link to a deserving blog or blogger.
For my First Tony(c) Award 2008, I am going to give a big Shout out to:(Cue the drum roll please)
The Agitator which is my favorite blog about Politics. If you aren't reading Radley Balko you ought to be. He is intelligent, conservative, and he is controversial without being shrill (Malkin you listening??). Most importantly he is funny. Funny is a good thing. I like a blog that can make me laugh and think at the same time.
So the very First Tony(c) award goes to Cato Institute and Reason Magazine's favorite bad boy The Agitator,and its real life voice Radley Balko.
PS. Help Radley to keep blogging buy the button/magnet shown on the top of this post by clicking here and following the instructions. It only costs a couple of dollars. Come on the kid needs to eat.
7 comments:
Conservative? Not so much... Unless you mean libertarian (small "l"), then absolutely!
Nicely done, sir, nicely done.
Thanks for stopping by. I often think of Conservatives in the tone of Barry Goldwater, not George W.
Would Paleo-conservative work?
Not particularly. Balko's a libertarian, and there's not really much of anything conservative about his main passion- the rights of people targeted and abused by law enforcement and the criminal justice system. He's decidedly "liberal" on social issues, in that he believes in a cosmopolitan, pluralistic culture as opposed to anything like the more collectivist God, Country, [traditional] Family credo associated with even paleo-conservatives.
ARCraig: Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
I guess I must be a Libertarian too. 'cept I am ok with "Under God" in the pledge, and I am probably a little less of an establishment clause person than the average libertarian, I am ok with prayers at the beginning of the Congressional Session etc. Otherwise, I see you describing me as much as you are describing Balko. OTOH That is probably why I enjoy his blog so much.
I was curious and came here by link posted on the blog in question. I agree he's more libertarian, but less government involvement = classic conservatism.
I do take issue with ARCraig's suggestion that caring about people "abused and targeted by law enforcement and the criminal justice system" is somehow not conservative. The stereotype may have some validity re not caring about those JUSTLY targeted by law enforcement, and I know any number of people of all political stripes who are skeptical about calling particular situations "abuse", but I can think of very, very few who actually don't care about people "abused and targeted" (i.e. unjustly) by the government.
I'm glad to be of service. Nothing warms the cockles of my heart quite like seeing someone reach the conclusion "I guess I must be a Libertarian too." And libertarianism is certainly a big enough tent to allow for differences of opinion like you hint at with regards to the 1st Amendment. Ron Paul/Lew Rockwell-type libertarians are certainly more of that bent, and often revel in claiming the heritage of paleoconservatism, "true conservativism", "Old Right", etc., though they are themselves a good deal more libertarian than, say, Barry Goldwater or Robert Taft were. There are many shades of subtlety and nuance in the libertarian spectrum, the only unifying theme being a belief in the general superiority of individual freedom over government authority.
There certainly are conservatives who take a civil libertarian stance on criminal justice/law enforcement issues, and there's nothing contradictory about that, but they're the exception rather than the rule. Even most paleoconservatives of JBS/Pat Buchanan bent tend to be "law and order" types (their term for it, not mine).
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