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Liberal Bloggers and Liberal Writers Are Invited To Write At The Nolan Chart
If you are a liberal blogger or a liberal writer, you have come to the right place
As publisher of the Nolan Chart, I want to welcome you to our site and to invite you to become a contributing columnist
here at the Nolan Chart. The 'Chart is a political news and opinion website where contributors from all political camps:
liberal, conservative, libertarian, centrist (or moderate), and statist, share space on the same site, but with each also
having their own, dedicated space for their own political camp.
I'm working particularly hard at inviting and attracting liberals to contribute here because liberal thought has so far
been far too underrepresented on the site. The libertarian presence here is bigger than the other camps combined, but that
has to change! Even though I'm a libertarian too, there is a lot that my fellow libertarians write that makes me cringe,
and I'd really like to see a greater liberal presence willing to argue the liberal side of the debate.
So, if you are a liberal writer or blogger, or even if you have never written regularly about liberal slants on the issues
in the past but would like to do so, you are wanted here. There is no required schedule. You write as often or as little
as you want to. All we ask is that you obey certain rules for engagement that all writers on the site are expected to obey.
Of course, we want you to write about some of the most potent and popular liberal issues, which liberal supporters usually
place on their top ten lists of issues, such as:
- health care
- civil rights
- jobs, poverty, and the economy
- climate change and environmental issues
- education
- corporate/government ties
- foreign policy and whether to bring the troops home
- energy, including "clean" energy
- the social safety net
- religious intolerance
- the "Arab Spring" of 2011
- financial system reform
- etc., etc.
I also hope you'll take on the libertarian, conservative, centrist, and statist writers on the site in regard to the issues
they raise and discuss. It's the diversity of views and the intensity of the debate that makes the Nolan Chart one of a kind
on the world wide web Diversity is something, of course, that any liberal can both support and appreciate.
Two kinds of liberal bloggers (not to mention conservative, libertarian, moderate, and statist bloggers!)
Basically, there are two kinds of political bloggers in the world.
- Most political bloggers, columnists, writers, and contributors prefer to write from the peanut gallery, lobbing peanut
shells over the railing at their opposition (real or imagined), but in truth they are little more than terrified bullies.
Bring them face to face with their opponents, and they drop to the floor in a dead faint. They have no guts.
- The other kind of political blogger prefers to engage the opposition face-to-face and nose-to-nose without
resorting to name-calling and disparagement of the opposition as the basis for their arguments. This kind is
the one with the real guts. He or she is the kind of blogger we look for at the Nolan Chart.
It's ridiculously easy to set up a political blog these days, and thousands of people have done so.
Liberal bloggers, like all of us, enjoy the thrill of seeing visitors who think like they do come to visit their blogs.
In a few rare cases, some blogs become popular enough that the writers might even earn a living from their blogging, but
for most, blogging is just an opportunity to vent their spleens, call the opposition some dirty names, and
engage in rampant sarcasm while getting repeated pats on the back from the writer's well-wishers. Eventually,
however, the thrill fades, and the blogging seems more like a chore than a hobby or an interest. The reason
for this is that good liberal bloggers ultimately want to blog because they want to engage their opponents.
They want a chance to change the other guy's mind, to rip apart the other guy's argument, and then counter-charge
when he reacts.
To the best of our knowledge, the Nolan Chart is the only political web site on the Internet that actually
invites, brings together, and engages liberals, conservatives, moderates, libertarians, and all other political
viewpoints in the same location. The 'Chart is the ultimate expression of free speech, because it's an opportunity
to not only address your supporters, but also to take on your opponents head-on. And of course, they get to do
the same thing with you...and with each other.
Origins of the Nolan Chart
The late David Nolan created the original Nolan Chart, a political map designed to expand upon and replace the
traditional left-right spectrum map most political commentators refer to. For those who do not know him, David Nolan
was one of the original founders of the Libertarian Party and was a noted political scientist. This site was created
in 2007 to put David's magnificent chart to work as a venue for political debate and discussion. Before his untimely
death in November 2010, David was a regular contributor here at the 'Chart. We continue his tradition by taking his
original idea and turning it into a forum for political discussion and debate of the issues of the day. David enjoyed
writing here, and we know you will, too. Please note that our use of the word "libertarian" on this website does not
exclusively refer to the Libertarian Party. To the contrary, most libertarians on the site are not associated with
that party at all. In its fullest meaning, to be libertarian is to be in favor of freedom and liberty, and that's the
meaning we apply in our use of the term on the web site. Many of us (myself included) refuse to have anything to do
with the Libertarian Party directly, although we do have some party members who choose our site on which to write.
Forceful Yet Respectful Debate
We do insist on a certain level of decorum and respect for one's opponents and critics, which any good liberal
blogger or liberal writer can appreciate and support, since liberals, too, want respect in return, just like anyone else does.
Ad hominems (personal attacks) are discouraged. We follow the rule that if you want to call someone else a clown, you
have to provide evidence that he dresses up in grease paint and baggy clothes for children's birthday parties on the
weekends, or something similar, in order to use the label. No liberal writer wants to be the victim of name calling
or nasty language, just as conservative, liberatarian, or moderate writers similarly don't want the same thing to happen to them.
We strongly discourage the use of nasty language to describe one's opponents, while recognizing that ad hominems can
never be completely avoided in political debate.
Strictly speaking, to say that your opponent is wrong is to engage in a personal attack, albeit of a very minor
kind. It doesn't matter whether you are liberal, conservative, libertarian, statist, or moderate. It's true for all
of us. Thus, to eliminate all personal attacks would end political debate. We recognize that it would be counter-productive
to maintain a pure line on such attacks. However, our rules do cut down dramatically on the frequency of overtly and
intentionally cruel and nasty personal attacks, and we do not hesitate to enforce our rules.
So if you are the kind of person who isn't afraid of a little head-to-head to debate and can engage in it by writing
articles and columns without trying to drag the debate into the gutter, you are the kind of contributor the Nolan Chart
seeks, regardless of your political views. We welcome all political viewpoints that are presented in a respectful and
engaging matter.
I should also note that while bloggers of all kinds often put little, short entries on their blogs, that's really
not something we want. Writers here are expected to write full articles. They don't have to be terribly long, but we don't
want them to be just one paragraph either. Good bloggers can easily crank out 200-300 words on a subject. If you are a
liberal writer (or even just a wannabe liberal writer), and can write a short, yet complete, article on a topic, then
you are the liberal blogger or writer we've been seeking!
Documenting Claims
We require that factual claims be documented with links (whenever possible) within all articles. So if you claim a
particular statistic to back your argument, or if you quote someone else, you have to include the source of your claim
within your article and link to that source from within the article. This policy significantly improves the quality of
the article and op/ed writing that takes place at the site, and it is one of the main reasons that the site is so successful
four years after its initial launch in August 2007.
We are not interested in articles whose primary purpose is to promote another website or venture. So if you're merely
a marketing person trying to promote some kind of business scheme, and that's the main purpose of your writing, we don't
want you.
If you want to promote a particular political viewpoint or campaign, that's fine. You are welcome to participate at
the Nolan Chart.
Original, Previously Unpublished Writing Only
We also only want original writing that has not yet been published elsewhere. If you already have a liberal blog or have
written for a liberal website somewhere else, that's fine. We just ask that you don't just recycle your old stuff. If you want
to share some of your better pieces with us, the way to do so is to rewrite them, give them a liberal, fresh coat of paint
so to speak. It takes a little bit of work, but it can be well worth it. It's amazing how one's own views and understanding
change or become more detailed and comprehensive over time. So that old article you thought so highly of may actually not be
your best work, and taking the time to re-write it results in a new article that is actually many steps better than the
original. The process makes you re-think your own arguments, and writers often find that they've got new information to add
that they didn't have when they wrote the original version.
You Are The Editor
We require that you take responsibility for doing all your own editing. We will not edit your articles for you, although
we may kick them back to you if the editing is poor. You are welcome to use any editing software of your choice. The online
editor we provide where you enter your articles (even if only by copying and pasting from your preferred word processor) is
small but robust. It includes a built-in spell-checker, too. We might also kick your article back if you have taken liberties
with the way articles are typically laid out on the pages of our site. If that happens, we will always inform you what changes
need to be made in order to get your article approved for publication on the site.
Our Readership
As mentioned above, Google News includes our site's articles in its listings, which adds further interest and readership.
Overall, we currently average about 60,000 unique readers per month, and we have plans in place to increase those numbers
dramatically in the weeks and months ahead. By the time the 2012 presidential election arrives, we hope to have those numbers
in the hundreds of thousands each month. In fact, in the long run we're aiming at the day when we have hundreds of thousands
of unique readers each day!
Revenue Sharing
While everyone who writes here does it for the love of writing, for the thrill of seeing their articles posted in Google News,
and to challenge the powers-that-be, we do also have a revenue sharing program. You won't likely be able to make a living from it,
but we make it available in case we get writers who succeed in bringing large numbers of new visitors to the site on a regular
basis because of what they write. We take one-half of our entire revenue stream from advertising on the site and make it available
in a revenue sharing plan. Those who opt-in to the plan are credited with their share of the revenue sharing as measured by the
writer's readership levels. The shares of those who do not opt-in to the plan revert back to the ownership of the site. Again,
the advertising revenue we currently collect does not enable any of our writers, even the most successful, to earn a living from
it. But as our readership numbers grow, the advertising revenue will also grow, leading to the day when writing at the Nolan Chart
may become a vocation for some of our writers as well as a hobby and an interest.
Other sites such as the Huffington Post hinted at possible revenue sharing plans of their own at one time, but they ended up
selling out, leaving their writers with nothing while Arianna Huffington collected $315 million from AOL. At the Nolan Chart, our
intention is to always retain the revenue sharing program, because we know and recognize that our success depends upon the
contributions of writers like you. Thus, even when we we've lost money (more expenses than income), we've always paid out the
revenue shares as writers reached at least the $25 level in accumulated revenue share earnings.
Get Started
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