OK, thanks to Steven’s graciousness, and his admirably open-minded view of blog management, I have now made a couple of posts on his blog–or our blog, if I dare take shared possession, at least temporarily. Thanks, Steven!
Doctor Taylor and I do not agree on many things political (though I find we agree on more than I realized!), but we agree on the need for a forum for reasoned political discussion. Steven has created just that with this blog.
As Steven mentions elsewhere, he and I have known each other for over 20 years, since I was a grad student and he an undergrad at UCI. I taught a course in my last year in the program, which Steven took. I called the course Regime Change, and he and I have had a few chuckles over that name since the term went, as Steven put it, “mainstream.”
As Steven also noted, he was so kind as to honor me by making me an usher at his wedding. In fact, we even went ring shopping together! As an aside, another usher at the wedding, also holding a Ph.D. in political science from UCI, currently runs an interesting blog under the title, Arms and Influence. I recommend it highly. And, of course, another of our guest bloggers–in fact the Permanent Guest Blogger–Steven Loomis, was the best man. Hello, Steven L., it’s been a long time! What a wedding party that turned out to be!
As many readers–or anyone who followed Steven’s link to my own website–know, I am now a political science professor at UCSD. I live in northern San Diego County, near (but no longer in) the district of Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who, as you may know, has been in the news a bit lately.
FYI, I will direct the interested reader to a comment I just made about The Duke of Del Mar over at Poly Sigh.
I am not sure how often I will post, but I hope I will have a few more things to say. I am getting ready for my own trip (to London, Prague, Krakow, Lviv, and Kyiv!!), so I am a tad busy. But I could not turn down Steven T.’s generous offer!
July 4th, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Hey there. Long time indeed.
Copied your last article, in fact, just a few minutes ago and am going to try to leave a comment this evening if I can.
Seriously NICE itineray you have there, too — enjoy the trip.
July 5th, 2026 at 3:50 pm
Mr. Taylor, Herr Shugart–
Good to hear from both of you. Also, thanks for the plug for Arms and Influence. I promise to return the favor.
July 5th, 2026 at 6:44 pm
Is a grad student in Dr. Taylor’s class I often felt like I didn’t agree with him on many things political, but after his reading his blog for a while, I too have learned that I agree with him on more issues than I originally thought.
Although I miss Dr. T, it is nice to have some new view points on the blog.
July 6th, 2026 at 7:47 pm
Ah, Kingdaddy, glad you stopped by! Thanks to Steven’s good Google work, I’ve been reading your blog regularly. Great work.
Yes, plug this site, but I am only a temporary interloper, much to the relief of some of its most devoted readers.