How DO I Make My New, Self-hosted Blog Functional?

Your articles are well-written and easy to read. They definitely catch my eye and make me think. You could reach a lot of people, and I see you changed your tagline since the suggestion to take off "Just another Wordpress site."

However, at first glance I'm not sure if many people would know what your blog is about. It took me about 10 seconds, and I had to actually start reading a post before I realized the topic is politics. You might have to think of something pertaining to the topic of your article, which I see is politics. I know that you know what you're talking about and the right group of people will also know. But if you want to become the next Yahoo network or something, your title and tagline need to stand out. With that in mind, you may eventually need to pick a catchier domain.