Every time I post or tweet about politics, I get people saying things like this:
In my post about consumer centric healthcare last week, I got this comment:
I've said this before here on the AVC blog, but it's important to me and I want to say it again.
I am not an expert in everything I write about. But that is not going to stop me from speaking my mind about things other than venture capital and web startups. It might annoy or piss some people off. It could even hurt our business because those people are less likely to do business with me or our firm.
But I've made the decision to put myself out there, speak my mind publicly, and say what I think. And I am going to continue to do it.
There are plenty of regular readers of this blog who don't agree with me on most of my political views. People like Andy Swan, JLM, Dave in Hackensack, Steve Kane and many others. But they've never suggested that I shouldn't speak my mind. They leave comments arguing that I'm wrong. And you know what? They've opened my mind to other viewpoints and I have to say that I am more open minded about their views than had they not taken the time to articulate them sensibly and articulately.
If you really think I am full of s**t, let me know in the comments, but please don't suggest that I don't have the right to speak my mind. We live in an open society where everyone has this right. And thank god we do.
