Dear Bob,

After I wrote to you the first time, you posted my message on your blog
and guessed that I’m a “respectable conservative.”

The truth is even worse, I’m afraid. I’m a liberal, I come from a long
line of Yankees, and I live in San Francisco.

So why do I like your stuff? Well, being a liberal, I favor scientific
method over authority and very much dislike established religion. And
you have, in my opinion, written the most convincing justification for
science and secularism that I’ve ever read.

I’m also against genocide and racism, and you’re the least racist person
I’ve ever come across. As you see it, no group of human beings should
be treated as animals or angels. Instead, you believe that human beings
should be treated as human beings. You accept that anybody who is human
will do both good and bad, and when you see him doing something bad, you
do him the honor of saying so. People don’t come less racist, or more
humane, than that.

It doesn’t really matter much, however, that I call myself a “liberal”
and that you call yourself a “conservative”. We’re both white American
gentiles, which means that we’re kin, and kinship is the only foundation
upon which a democracy may be erected. “Democracy” is a Greek word that
means “rule of the people.” It does not mean “rule of opinion.” Rule
of opinion, whether that opinion be the Public’s or the Supreme Court’s,
can be many things but it cannot, by definition, be democratic. But you
have already made this point much better than I can.

My main point in writing you today is: 1) to let you know that I’m not,
contrary to your guess, a “respectable conservative” and that the truth
is even worse; 2) to let you know that if your writings have managed to
get beyond the Stormfront types and reach *me*, a left-leaning San
Francisco liberal, then your work is truly “out there” now and your
decision to call it a day is therefore entirely justified.

I’m very glad that you’ve decided to continue the blog, however. It’s
nice to know that there’s at least one place on the Internet that can
offer enlightenment not only about life in Washington and the history
of Christianity, but also about Baywatch and the Village People.

Best wishes,