2018 was a good year for The Portly Politico. I relaunched the blog back over the summer, when I had more time to write multiple pieces a week. With the South Carolina primary elections, it’s not surprising that some of the most traffic hit during June.
Just like the 2016 election, I was unable to dedicate the time necessary to covering the 2018 midterm elections; perhaps my greatest deficiency as a blogger is the inability to post regularly during the school year, a function of both a lack of time and focus (and, very likely, a lack of discipline). While the blog has not gained the traction I’d hoped for six months ago, it’s been an entertaining way to put some of my thoughts to “paper,” as it were, and get some interesting feedback from you, my small coterie of loyal readers.
All navel-gazing aside, here are 2018’s Top Ten Posts, as determined by the number of views:
10.) SC Primary Run-Off Election Results – the title says it all! I think some wayward Googlers boosted this one into the top ten.
9.) #MAGAWeek2018 – George Washington – during the Fourth of July week, I kicked off what will become an annual observance: MAGA Week. Each day featured an essay about some figure or idea that had made America great in his or its own way. While I’m most proud of my lengthy overview of the career of John Quincy Adams, the post on George Washington gained the most traction with readers—a deserved victory for America’s most influential Founding Father.
8.) A Discourse on Disclaimers – I got so sick of endlessly qualifying every statement, I wrote this protesting post. One thing the Trump presidency has taught us is that you’re never going to appease the progressives, so you’ve gotta fight back. You’re never going to able to mollify an emotional, inherently violent beast with an appeal to decency and reason, so why bother?
7.) SCOTUS D&D – one of the lighter works of the Brett Kavanaugh character assassination, this post linked to another author’s attempt to place the Supreme Court justices on the legendary Dungeons and Dragons alignment chart. Very fun.
6.) Progressivism and Political Violence – one of my best pieces, I would argue. This post detailed the strong link between the progressive ideology and violence, be it the official use of state violence to enforce its way, or street-level thuggery when it’s been systematically denied the levers of power. If Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg kicks the bucket in 2019 and President Trump and the Republican Senate successfully appoint and confirm a conservative justice to replace her, I shudder to contemplate the hysterical bloodshed that will result as masked Antifa goons and hipster black boots take to the streets.
5.) #TBT: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle – the only “Throwback Thursday” post to make the top ten, this was a reposting of the old blog’s 2017 Thanksgiving post, which I wrote with a freshly broken left wrist. We all have a great deal to thank God for this year.
4.) America Should Expand into Space – one of my early pieces during the 2018 relaunch argued that the United States should make a concerted effort to continue expanding into outer space. Why get our precious rare-earth metals from China when we can mine them from asteroids? Speaking of…
3.) Breaking: President Trump Creates Space Force – I whooped with joy when President Trump announced the creation of Space Force. Apparently, many readers were excited about it, too. It’s a commonsense move: space is the next, and final, frontier. Why cede dominance—military, economic, cultural, or otherwise—to the ChiComs? Make America Space Again!
2.) 4.8% Economic Growth?! – one of the first posts upon relaunching the blog, this little piece drew a good bit of attention (and probably benefited from the initial curiosity traffic). Let the good times roll!
1.) Run-Off Elections in SC Primaries Today – this post blew all others away, with (at the time of this writing) 101 more views than its next competitor. I was shocked, but the blog showed up in several online search results as South Carolinians sought out information about the primary run-off elections this past summer.
So there you have it! My personal favorites didn’t always gain the traction I hoped—and some of my better essays were nowhere near the top ten—but that’s the fun of blogging: you never know what’s going to catch readers’ attention.
Thank you all for a wonderful 2018. Here’s looking forward to bigger and better things in 2019!
God Bless, and Happy New Year!
–The Portly Politico
The Portly Politico 