The cost of staying true to your principles and the price you pay for betraying them

I have been publishing this blog for 21 years and addressing political issues from it, a practice I have done from a very defined perspective.

The bold voice that many people believed to be until the moment of truth arrived
Principles versus fashions: the lesson offered by a man who folded his arms

This perspective consists of the defense of very clear principles, which include the defense of the right to life from conception to natural death, the family as the basic unit of society, Christian values, the unity and sovereignty of Spain, individual freedoms, democracy, the limitation of political power, Western culture with Judeo-Christian roots, opposition to all forms of totalitarianism, rejection of terrorism and support for its victims.

On this site you can find articles saying the same thing today, five years ago, or ten or fifteen years ago. If there's one thing that fills me with pride, it's being told I'm very predictable, because if there's one thing I dislike in politics, it's seeing people who change their principles like they change their socks, practicing blatant opportunism, forgetting issues in the belief that they are inconvenient or unpopular, or even subordinating principles to personal or party interests.

I must admit that fidelity to principles comes at a huge cost. It means many doors closing on you, being hated today by those who supported you yesterday even though you haven't changed your tune, and even having to endure unpleasant things I wouldn't wish on anyone I consider my enemy. Sometimes I wonder if it wasn't worth going along with it, or perhaps dedicating myself to less thorny issues that would never embroil me in controversy, but that would mean giving up my freedom to defend what I consider true and just, and I still believe in those wise words found in Chapter LVIII of "El Quijote":

"Liberty, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts that heaven has bestowed upon men; with it, the treasures that the earth holds or the sea conceals cannot compare; for liberty, as well as for honor, one can and should risk one's life."

We live in a society where betraying your principles is very well rewarded, why deny it? If I had dared to take that step years ago, today my bank account would surely have much more money and my life would be surrounded by luxuries I don't have now. But the price to pay then would be much higher: the knowledge that my freedom has a price and that, once sold, it's very difficult to get it back.

If continuing to defend everything I've stated above means losing friendships, readers, opportunities, and luxuries, I accept it. What I couldn't accept is having gained all that in exchange for betraying my values, letting others dictate what I should think and write, and turning this blog into the voice of some master. No, thank you. I have etched in my mind those words from the famous scene where Cyrano de Bergerac declared: "Possibly not to fly very high, but alone."