Touche, Mr. Loeb! In retrospect, I myself was a bit harsh (at the very least) with my criticisms. I’ve fought the absolutist idea (and occasionally seen it where it wasn’t intended) that all online writers are not ‘real writers’ and the idea that artists (of all types) in this new kind of economy should not be adequately compensated, or compensated at all in many cases. My apologies for misreading your intent in that direction. This has been a good conversation, and beneficial for me in many ways. Hope it was good for you, too. :) (Are we dating now?! Where’s an interrobang when you need it?!)

One last anecdote: I recently considered writing for one of these political sites. To my mind, it was worse still than USUncut and Occupy Democrats in terms of the vitriol and baselessness of some of the articles. I thought of writing under a pseudonym, thinking, if it’s good enough for Voltaire or Swift, it should be more than adequate for me. And then my partner reminded me: digital-born stuff is almost impossible to kill (so far as we know). The truth will out. Do I want my name, for mere money, attached to a story that’s spewing anger and not contributing to an overall civil conversation about any subject, political or otherwise? Definitely not. Facts are what I’m interested in — far above emotion — when I’m writing nonfiction.

Oh, and I’ve stolen from Hemingway, intentionally and non-, myself. It’s hard to not do sometimes, even if one’s style is quite different (which mine obviously is).

Thanks again for hearing me out; I do appreciate it. I am hoping my fellow former Bernie supporters will see that voting for Jill Stein (or Johnson; or not voting at all) is tantamount to a vote for the unmitigated disaster that would be the reign of Trump.