Why You Should Follow This Blog--I'm Talking to You, Morning Joe!

Welcome to the first post on "A View from the Hinterland," my new blog on which I try my seasoned hand at political and social commentary.

While there is no way to bracket my Christian faith from my opinions and while there is no way to bracket my ministerial identity from my thought processes, I want to make it clear that I see this blog as more "secular" in its orientation.

I want to be transparent about my agenda with this blog, which is two-fold: first, I want to express my interpretation of events and my opinion of those events and second, I want to market my interpretations and opinions.

So come on, Morning Joe--give me a market!

For a long time now I have campaigned for a recurring role on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," which I watch every morning (not the whole show--I do work for a living) and which I enjoy very much, even when it frustrates me very much, which it tends to do when Joe talks to Mika like she's fifteen years old and she does not in response scratch his eyeballs out.

Every chance I get, by today's accepted means of serious communication, namely, Facebook and Twitter, I tell Joe, Mika and crew that they should have me on the show every now and then.

The reasons, I have told them before and now tell them again, is that they need (a) a voice that comes from the hinterland, from rural, agricultural, small-town America, (b) the opinions of someone with "Rev." in front of his name whose name is not Sharpton or Graham, and (c) the perspective of a true, died-in-the-wool, and committed political, religious, and social Moderate.

Let's face it--the only people that we hear on Morning Joe or on any of the other network or cable news programs are the media elites who have no real idea what's being said or thought in the hinterland, in those places far away from New York City, Washington, D.C., or even Atlanta, Georgia.

Joe Scarborough himself often claims to speak for the Northwest Florida/Alabama/Georgia population but really now, Joe is more Washington and New York than he is NoFlaAlGa, which is appropriate and understandable given where he spends most of his time.

My purpose, therefore, is to share my interpretation of the social, moral, and political aspects--and sometimes of all three aspects--of life in America, from the perspective of someone who lives in the part of America whose voice is seldom heard.

As for my credentials--well, I grew up in Barnesville, Georgia, lived for ten years in Adel, Georgia, and have lived for over three years now in Fitzgerald, Georgia. I did spend four years in Macon, Georgia but during some of those years served as pastor of a small church outside of Sparta, Georgia, seven years in Louisville, Kentucky but during some of those years served as pastor of a small church outside of Owenton, Kentucky, and six years in Nashville, Tennessee, but during some of those years served as pastor of a small church in Fosterville, Tennessee, just up the road from Bell Buckle. During my six years in Augusta, Georgia I pretty much stuck to the city.

So, I am in and of rural Southern America but I have spent enough time in metropolitan areas not to have tunnel vision.

I live, I think, and I write.

You should read me.

I'm talking to you, Morning Joe!

Welcome to A View from the Hinterland...