PASSION YES, BUT NEVER PASSION WITHOUT LOGIC

As a young fella working for the Hon. Roger Simmons in Ottawa, I had the good fortune to meet Senator Eugene Forsey one afternoon in the Members' Common Room, behind the curtains leading to the floor of the House of Commons. He told me that he had a connection to Newfoundland, and it turned out that the little outport where I grew up was just up the coast from where he was born.

That was just the first of a number of conversations with an individual whom I grew to respect. I was proud to present his brief to the Special Committee to Study the Proposed Companion Resolution to the Meech Lake Accord, in St. John’s, chaired by Jean Charest. Sadly, he died shortly thereafter. Forsey profoundly influenced my desire to participate and inform.

Considering the shellacking I have received for assisting to organize the Unity Rally (obviously I had become a Tory), maligning the Provincial Minister of Education over school issues (he must be getting ready to run for the Liberals) or my decision to assist the NDP Leader in her successful re-election bid in Signal-Hill Quidi Vidi (how does one pronounce “Quidi Vidi?”), it should not come as a surprise that I idolize a man who started out as a conservative, became a socialist, than was appointed as a Liberal Senator, who later broke ranks with that party and sat as an independent.

One member of the Liberal Caucus, a sometimes nemesis, once remarked that people did not trust me because no one really knew what my agenda was. He used to always ask me what I wanted and what my long term plan was? What is your game plan? The answer is that I am not sure, one thing is for certain I am ambivalent about partisan politics as a career.

My wife gets mortified just about every time I get on the phone in preparation for a conversation with Bill, Linda or Randy. She just shrugs her shoulders as I eagerly wait for the latest letter to the editor to make it to the papers. Some people say that only crazy people write letters to the editor or talk up issues.. Crazy or not, I believe in participatory democracy. Besides it is not like the peoples house is going to be much of a forum for debate over the next four years.

I figure Blogs are akin to conversations. People get to read my thoughts and respond creating a two way conversation. I am looking forward to not just putting my thoughts on the Web but receiving feedback from others with similar interests. It is going to be a great way to learn and widen my perspective. Polemic & Paradox will evolve as time goes by and cover a variety of topics. I expect that much of the focus will be on contemporary political issues and other things that I find interesting.

While I have never been shy about posting my opinions in newspapers, talk shows or newsgroups, joining the blogosphere has caused me some anxiety. Something about putting it out there to the wide world. Which is strange because it seems like a natural fit for me? I am looking forward to positing my opinions as opposed to deleting them after they were composed.

Passion yes, but never passion without logic!

Stay tuned!