I used to hang out here a lot, and posted semi-frequently. There was a lot of sharp thinking and analysis, with arguments used to hone conservative ideas against one another. Ideas were challenged, defended and came out stronger because of it. Some were ardent social conservatives, others hard core objectivist libertarians, and others pragmatic policy people, but the stew made something greater for all that.
But, slowly, there developed a Freep Orthodoxy, with wolfpacks of enforcers attacking any mild disagreement and, punctuated by the occasional mass purge, most of the interesting people left, got banned or drifted away into silence. FR became an echo chamber, with no heterodoxy tolerated.
Occasionally, like right now, I’ll check in to see what has aggregated on a particular breaking issue, but it is now only to see the various news. The commentary these days rarely has anything to add to the discussion besides another chorus from the choir.
Sad, really.
BTW, my first post here was in reply to one of Laz’s. To this day, I remember his thoughtful analysis of the extent and limits of the 2nd Amendment. Thanks Laz!
You nailed it. It’s why I stopped writing Publius Essays.
Remember the guy with the Nigerian pancake posts? Forgot name. Still here?