Greetings kind reader and welcome to the Publius Speaks blog.

In this age of social media, our knowledge about and awareness of the world around us is reduced to a handful of characters, images and memes. So-called "news" is little more than shock-factor headlines, rapidly scrolling chyrons and a screaming succession of talking heads purporting to be journalists. The breadth of information available to us is staggering. The depth; however, is dangerously shallow.

The philosophical underpinnings of the uniquely American social contract are no longer taught in schools, nor are they widely discussed after formal education is done. People are quick take sides in a zero-sum game that casts one another as right or left, as winner or loser, as patriot or traitor. The fact, though, is that this is not a game. It's an existential test to determine whether or not the sole republic on Earth, dedicated to Liberty, will survive or will be sacrificed at the altar of totalitarianism.

As we go through this test, two distinct sides do indeed exist, an "us" and "them," so to speak. The "us" includes you, me and our fellow citizens. The "them" includes those in power, political power to be precise. They are aided and abetted by a variety of secondary and tertiary accomplices - biased media and government-beholden academia to name just two. Many more exist and seek to grow their power at the expense of our liberty.

Fake news (and fake information generally) is no accident. It bombards us from every side. It is promulgated by many sources, even those we trust to be honest and true. I dare say it is intentional, designed to confuse and confound us, to separate and divide us, to keep our focus blurred so that "they" can, unobserved, augment and further secure their power over us, especially those of us who are historically most marginalized.

Our only weapon against "them" is knowledge and understanding. I, for one, am no longer disposed to suffer. Abuses and usurpations abound. I believe the time has come to examine thoroughly our social contract and the forces determined to render it useless and to use that knowledge and understanding to reclaim the rights we hold dear.

In the days, weeks, months and years ahead, I hope you will join me for an exploration of current events in the context of the philosophical underpinnings to which I referred. You and I, our fellow Americans, and those Americans yet to come are heirs to something greater, more beautiful and so much more respectful of our common humanity than the political class in Washington cares to preserve. Only by educating ourselves, by having civil and informed debate, and by finding those shared virtues that make us American can we secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.

-Publius