By Jay Hansen
(Originally published August 2nd, 2011)

My name is Jay Hansen. I was born, raised, and currently resides in Edmond, Oklahoma. A fourth generation Oklahoman on my father’s side, fifth generation on my mother’s side, I’m as Oklahoman as it gets. Despite this, an ever-growing rift has formed between me and a majority of Oklahomans, and I often feel outcast in my own home. This rift is a cultural, political, ideological, and even philosophical one that I see every day as our government, federal and state, slides rapidly further and further to the right. It has now become so severe, that many of the very staples that make this nation what it is, that make America great, are now being questioned and done away with by right-wing extremists. Public education, minimum wage, social security, labor’s rights, Medicare, and even child labor laws, among many other things, have all been targeted if not already done away with by self-proclaimed “conservatives” who are anything but. The Republican Party harbors most of these politicians, but now even the Democrats are guilty of this same crime at disturbingly increasing rates.

We now have a Democratic President who is putting forth proposals to lower taxes for corporations and billionaires, cut social security and Medicare, offer no substantial reform of the financial sector that caused the depression of 2008, does not support same-sex marriage, and does absolutely nothing but submit as Republican lawmakers around the nation destroy unions, throw women in jail for miscarrying in the name of their holy crusade to “protect life,” push to abolish social security, Medicare, Medicaid, ignore the checks and balances system repeatedly by, in some cases literally, saying they don’t have to obey court orders, and push harder and harder to stop taxing multi-billion dollar corporations completely all while cutting any and all services on which the middle and lower class depend to survive. If you can’t see how far to the extreme right this nation and state’s government has shifted, you’re not following politics very closely at all. I couldn’t simply sit on the sidelines any longer and watch this all crumble around me, and that is why I made this website to chronicle my commentary on politics, society, philosophy, and just my own thought processes. It’s a small step sure, for gigantic problems that plague our society, but even a journey of 1,000 miles starts with but a single step.

I look forward to sharing with you all.

-          Jay Hansen.