Through the years people have often misspelled my name, so I decided not to use it when naming this site. Given there are several people with similar names, I should say I did not write a book about Iraq and I am not in the East writing about Washington D.C. politics.
My education was strongly influenced by Washington D.C., however. My father made the Air Force a career, which in itself was a unique education for me. While I somehow managed to begin in California and ended up there close to San Diego, in between it felt like we always moving somewhere new.
We lived in or near Salt Lake City, Nagoya, Arlington, Sioux City, Fairbanks and several places in both Northern and Southern California. I’ve always appreciated that introduction to those different areas, people and ways of life.
During those early years, my longest stay was the four and a half years we were in Arlington, when I was in grades 3-7. It was a great place for an inquisitive kid to live. When we studied history we were often able to visit the locations history was made or the homes of those we were studying.
It was really then, when we spent so much time on our country’s beginnings that I began my appreciation for the unique experiment in self-government we embarked on. Truthfully I think it would be improbable that anyone could spend their early years in that environment and not come away with an appreciation and respect for our Founding Fathers and our founding principles.
Applying those principles to today’s world is the challenge our Founders gave us. That’s the continuing experiment and exploration that this site is about—remembering that it’s about us/US.
See “Beginnings.”
Steve
