Fiat Lux

I realized this morning that yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of my blog's existence. Some 260 posts later, here I am, still blogging away.

In looking through my Technorati links and SiteMeter referrals, I've noted that over time I've gotten listed in a handful other people's blogrolls. That's of course gratifying to my ego, but when I see myself listed as being a "Progressive" blog it also makes me feel a little like I'm there under false pretenses. With my recent increase in spare time and the heating up of the political front, I've posted a lot about politics, but Fiat Lux was not meant to be a political blog as such. And I do not consider myself a "Progressive" - which seems to be the label people adopt when they believe the Democrats aren't sufficiently to the left.

When Howard Dean said, "I'm from the Democratic wing of the Democratic party" that had a lot of resonance for me. I'm a 3rd generation Democrat and proud of it. That said, I also voted for Giuliani and Pataki when I lived in New York City. I felt they were the better candidates for the job at the time. I'd vote for a Republican again if I honestly felt that s/he was the better candidate and more closely matched my policy beliefs. The way things are today, I don't think that's very likely though.

America, in my mind, is a grand social experiment. We've tried for 200+ years to build a better society, one that is a standard of success for the rest of the world. Problem is we're human and we don't always get things right. The industrial revolution brought some dramatic changes to the role of labor in people's lives. I think a lot of the social programs that have been introduced during the 20th century were various attempts - some more or less successful - to try to bring some balance to the equations that had been changed but the new modes of work. Some have been more successful than others; and of course the world is still changing. We may never get it right - but we cannot stop trying.

In short, I consider myself a firm Democrat and more centrist than far left, although others may not see me that way. And Fiat Lux is a blog that talks a lot about politics, but is not confined to it.

Happy anniversary, Fiat Lux! Let's see what the next year will bring.