I have to agree with you. I've chosen my connections on Substack by what they say and what they share, but increasingly I don't want to connect with anyone not able to raise a head over the parapet.

My father co-signed the early, full-page ad in the NYT by physicians against the Vietnam War and fully expected repercussions. Neither of my brave, smart, activist, often-reviled parents ever lobbed political opinions into the public sphere from the cover of anonymity. My own 6-year stint as a suburban-Boston newspaper columnist began when I pointed out (with evidence) to their Christian Right op-ed writers that the Founders were not all Christians, and that the Jefferson Bible ends with the stone rolling over Christ's tomb. That was not a safe opinion even in Massachusetts.

I hope everyone in this wonderful space reconsiders their anonymity, unless they have a compelling reason not to.