The Re-Launch of "The Politics of Freedom" Blog

By: @RUDY_MAYOR

As times change, so do priorities. Time that was once used for writing political opinion pieces on this very blog became better spent on consuming new knowledge. Law school is mechanical and tedious – and if you do it the right way – you don’t have a lot time for the creative writing process that is blogging. But, as a human being who like other human beings is never quite complacent doing one thing – the full-time “thinking like a lawyer” method of learning has left a void and longing for the creative writing process de nuevo. The use of creativity, like public policy arguments, is often subordinated in the lawyer’s hierarchical list of binding and persuasive sources. Lawyers grasp, instinctually, for their complicated statutory arguments. Yet, it is on the public policy side that arguments are often won.

This is why the re-launch of my blog is so important to me. First, writing creatively on politics is an outlet to an otherwise mechanical way of legal thinking that all lawyers are trained in. This blog is a way to escape the “this is the way things are” mentality and use the right side of my brain more often to argue: “this is the way things should be.” Secondly, writing creatively on issues that matter to me, my community, and my country is a way to offer opinion pieces to persuade those who are undecided and to reassure those who believe as I do. If you disagree with me, let it serve you well by reflecting on it and contributing to the ongoing dialogue. Opinions don’t change over night, but exposure to equally valid but opposing arguments on a particular issue might lead to the moderation of views or a long-term transformation. Who knows, I might disagree with me in 20 years time.

We know this to be true because people change with the times. If human beings are the sums of their experiences and if we let these outside experiences affect us, we see that we are not the same people we were a few years ago. I can't help but to look back at my writing of two or three years ago and cringe at the fact that I had so much to say but had so little skill to communicate it. Therefore, let my blog pieces serve as a snapshot of my views of the year or maybe even the day they were posted. My political views and blog posts, however, are not written impulsively (an example of impulse politics is the U.S. Congress, as well as impulse governance (see: sequester, furloughs)). At the foundation of my thinking and my views is an unshakable appreciation for what the United States stands for. Taking a principled stance is always better than political expediency. Sometimes the principled thing to do is to compromise, but never at the expense of what is right and what is truth. Some issues go to your core, like the issue of democracy in Cuba, and it is better to always stand for what you know in your heart is right.