Instapundit is 12 today. He helped create and define the very idea of ‘blogging’. Which in part is why you are reading this.

This sort of unflagging effort takes incredible diligence and generosity. Many of Glenn Reynolds’  posts are little more than a link to something of interest (usually to make a libertarian-inclined Republican-Lite or at least common sense point of some sort), yet you always sense a steady fair-mindedness and respect for process as well as outcome. When he does add thoughts of his own they are (again) invariably unstrident and balanced, with a professorial but accessible nod to the law and due process.

Glenn’s success has done a lot to boost a far wider interest in basic ideas about democracy, limited government and personal responsibility. His ‘Army of Davids‘ book was one of the first to articulate in a popular way a range of arguments about the way technology is moving power from big heavy things to swarms of disaggregated individuals. He helped right from the start to give the Tea Party movement credibility as a force for smaller government.

Latterly he has pointed to the way that Big Academe is tottering towards collapse, as universities and colleges have bloated themselves out of control and increasingly produced products and massive bureaucratic overhang that no sane student would want or need: the Higher Education Bubble. He likes guns.

Unlike the no less prolific Andrew Sullivan, Instapundit does not proselytize or try to bludgeon you into intellectual submission. What you see is what you get: persuasive and thought-provoking precisely because it is understated and delivered with dabs of deft humour.

Happy Birthday. Follow him right now on @instapundit. Heh.