It's finally time to quit

timesheraldonline.com ^ | 03/07/05 | Joseph Perkins

[Ellesu]

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." - Henry David Thoreau

Some of my friends wonder aloud if I am suffering some sort of "midlife crisis."

They cannot fathom, for the life of them, why I would retire, in my mid-40s, from my writing job at The San Diego Union-Tribune; why I would forfeit my nationally syndicated column.

Well, after nearly 15 years of daily deadlines, writing three to four editorials a week in addition to a column, this seems as good a time as any to walk away from the grind.

As the latter-day philosopher Clint Eastwood famously stated: "A man's got to know his limitations."

I know there will be speculation in some quarters as to the "real" reason for my departure from daily journalism. Some will wonder whether I am the victim of some liberal coup at the Union-Tribune; whether I was "pushed out the door."

Let me assure everyone concerned that I am leaving of my own volition. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life and career. And so is my lovely wife, Yolanda, who is taking early retirement.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my loyal readers, in San Diego and around the country, for supporting my writings over the years. And to the folks at www.FreeRepublic.com , www.Lucianne.com and www.RealClearPolitics.com - my three favorite Web sites - for occasionally posting my columns and giving my writings an even wider audience.

Your overwhelming feedback, measured in e-mails and voice mails, reassured me that my conservative thinking on the range of subjects was not nearly as far out as my preponderantly liberal journalistic peers often suggested.

Indeed, I considered it my mission to counterbalance the liberal orthodoxy that prevails on most of the nation's opinion pages. I viewed myself as a reasoned voice of the majority of Americans who are right of center on the political spectrum.

I'm referring to the folks who live in so-called "red states" - or in red counties, like San Diego, in otherwise blue states, like California - whose conservative values are viewed contemptuously by the liberal elite who dominate academia and Hollywood and the putative mainstream media.

I'm talking about the 60 million God-fearing, patriotic Americans who just returned George W. Bush to the White House.

Now some of my critics - yes, I've had a few - complained that I was too hard on liberals and Democrats; that I was always giving them hell.

That reminds me of the words of the late president Harry S Truman, one of my favorite Democrats. He didn't give his foes hell, he said. He just spoke the truth, and they thought it was hell.

And that's what I have done for much of the past 15 years. I have written the truth as it revealed itself. And many, if not most, of my liberal and Democrat readers thought it was hell.

Yet, while I have been a bare-knuckled opinion writer, while I have pulled none of my punches over the years, I have never borne malice toward anyone simply because we differed politically.

I might have disagreed, strenuously so, with someone's position on a given issue, or on many issues. But I never allowed that to cross the line into hate on my part.

I have tried to follow the example of Booker T. Washington, who was a black conservative long before being black and conservative was cool. "I will permit no man," he said, "to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him."

Now I know that many of my conservative readers will be disappointed that I am getting out of the opinion-writing game. But I am not so full of myself as to believe that I am leaving behind a void that somehow can't be filled.

Indeed, back in my White House days, I had an actress friend who was appearing in a production of "Twelfth Night" at Washington's Folger Shakespeare Theater.

One day, the lead actress in the play, Hollywood A-lister Kelly McGillis (whose screen credits included "Top Gun," "Witness" and "The Accused"), fell ill.

I wondered whether the evening's performance would go on. To which my actress friend replied: "One monkey don't stop no show."

Well, I'm just a simian who writes conservative opinions. And there are plenty of other simians who share my political predilection who can ably take my place.

And if, for some reason, the 200 or so newspapers that have carried my column - including San Diego's leading daily - do not see fit to run another conservative column in place of mine, conservative readers need not despair.

Because they can always turn to the blogosphere. It is the brave new marketplace of ideas, rivaling the influence of newspaper editorial pages.

Who knows? I may come out of retirement in six months or a year or three years and start my own blog, proffering opinions on issues of the day. It would be just like old times.

[Ellesu]

I owe a debt of gratitude to my loyal readers, in San Diego and around the country, for supporting my writings over the years. And to the folks at www.FreeRepublic.com , www.Lucianne.com and www.RealClearPolitics.com - my three favorite Web sites - for occasionally posting my columns and giving my writings an even wider audience.

[alwaysconservative]

Joseph Perkins has been one of my ALL-time favorite columnists; I shall surely miss reading his deft columns, common-sense observations and, yes, kind approach to the world.

And I appreciate the salute he has given to FR. What a classy guy! I wish him well on his retirement and hope he uses the time to write books and make TV appearances. His mind is just too sharp to fade away into obscurity.

[CyberAnt]

I already mentioned this, but for those who missed it - when Jim Robinson paid a visit to the San Diego Chapter last year, it was Joseph Perkins who saw the gathering advertized at FreeRepublic.com and showed up at the restaurant - just for the opportunity to meet Jim in person.