I’m a retired Veteran in Portland, having served 25 years at the Pentagon and another 8 with the Veterans Health Administration. When looking at the chaos and conflict, the silly and salacious of today’s social media environment, one thought comes to mind:

Sounds great – I gotta get in on that!

Pentapundit is a very, very modest attempt to entertain whatever readers I may be able to attract, with the understanding that my listening is at least as important as whatever I may be able to convey to you along the way. Hence I invite feedback, critique and the occasional return of fire.

I am a committed (albeit aging) geek, so Pentapundit will have some typical cultural references.

Having spent most of my life in DC, politics interests me a great deal, and this blog will reflect that as well.

Over the years, I’ve been all over the map politically. I campaigned for Jimmy Carter in high school. I favored butter over guns in Econ 101 (cholesterol was not on the radar in 1980). As you might expect, I moved towards fiscal and security conservativism during my years in uniform - heightened by my experience at the Pentagon when the plane hit.

But my time in VHA proved to be the final nail in the coffin for my confidence in the Federal government. DC should not be responsible for anything more substantial than maintaining the US Helium Reserve.

“Philosophy” is too grand a term for someone with no formal training, much less experience as an academic. So, just like The Cat in the Hat, I rely on two Things to help me along:

Thing 1: Those with power must be accountable to those without.

Thing 2: History has much to teach us about Thing 1.

(note: this was before Dr. Seuss ran afoul of cancel culture)

It is my opinion that societies dedicated to these two things will thrive, continuously transcending the natural Hobbesian state of life as nasty, brutish and short.

The Declaration, The Constitution and the Federalist Papers are perhaps history's grandest instantiation of both Thing 1 and Thing 2.

And so I believe that the United States of America is one of humanity’s greatest achievements - elevating the human condition to an unprecedented degree. That such a belief would be met with derision across vast swathes of our society today represents a formidable, perhaps even existential challenge to America’s future.

A first step in meeting that challenge is this: turn down the heat! I believe that the majority of progressives and conservatives alike are motivated by good faith, an honest desire to make the world a better place – differing more in method than intent.

But as we know, today’s social media enforces precisely the opposite: the division into camps of enemies and allies, the transformation of intelligence into insult, the debasement of dialogue.

Pentapundit will certainly promote a point of view that not all will endorse. But for what it’s worth, Pentapundit will not descend into Coulteresque calumny or the theatrics of Michael Moore.

Looking forward to the journey!