Signing Out
So long, readers, you've all been grand. Yes, even Platzer.

As the year draws to a close, so too does this column. After nearly 2 1/2 years, I will be, as they say, moving on. OpinionJournal could use some fresh blood; I could use the time for some deferred projects.

I was flattered to be asked to be among the inaugural contributors to this Web site, and I have greatly appreciated the expert editing of James Taranto and his able assistant, Brendan Miniter. They saved me from many lapses of both commission and omission. And their headlines were invariably pithy and on target.

Most of all, though, I will miss you, the readers. Unlike newspapers, where one must wait days or even weeks to catch a sense of the reaction of one's scribblings, the Internet allows for almost instantaneous feedback. Every writer lives for reaction, of course. But the real-time nature of online debate, as well as the back-and-forth it allows among the readers themselves, is genuinely invigorating.

But discussion of race is very much out in the open these days. And that in itself suggests how far America has traveled since the days of Jim Crow, much less the founding or the antebellum era. No doubt there still exist ugly sentiments beneath the surface. But the veneer of civilization has always been thin. At least it gives us the ability to discuss among ourselves how to come to grips with things.

Another hot button with OpinionJournal readers has been the environment. Reader Michael Philips of Washington asserted several weeks back that "this is one area, perhaps along with civil rights, where formerly 'liberal' views are now mainstream values." I take his point, but it has never been fair to assert that conservatism is antienvironment or that liberalism had a monopoly on wisdom, particularly when it comes to the environment.

The root of conservatism, after all, is "to conserve." The real question is how best to do that. Today's conservative, who in so many ways resembles the classical liberal of old, has a good case to make that man and his "natural" yearning for freedom should be counted as crucial parts of what we call the environment.

Some of the most thoughtful conversation among readers of this and other OpinionJournal columns has surrounded the subject of terrorism and Iraq. "Spare us the World War II analogies," Mark York of Sunnyvale, Calif., scolded me after a recent column quoting Winston Churchill on the failure to confront Hitler earlier. "Europe isn't worried about Iraq; why should we?" To which Virginia Lester of Troy, Mich., responded: "I dread [war] as I know we will lose some of our brightest stars, but if we don't taken Saddam out of the picture, we will surely lose a lot more."

I lean to Ms. Lester's point of view. But readers like Mr. York aren't wrong to insist we think very carefully about where we are going. America appears to be moving into a new and potentially dangerous era in foreign policy in which easy historical analogies won't illuminate very much--though I can't resist pointing out that Europe didn't care very much about Hitler, either, until it was too late.

Even after retiring from OpinionJournal I will be among its most avid readers--and, who knows, I may find myself among those moved to contribute their reactions. The ideological brawl that is the heart of democracy is too much fun to pass up for long, and the digital era has made it easier than ever to participate. In the average daily newspaper, letter writers are usually consigned to a tiny ghetto on the editorial page. On the Net, the responses typically are four or five times longer than the original column. The reader rules!

My thanks to all those who cared enough to read--and especially to those who cared enough to leap into the fray by taking to their own keyboards.

Mr. Bray is a staff columnist at the Detroit News, where his column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.

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