My Declaration of Card Collecting Pessimism

When in the course of collecting cards, it becomes necessary for one collector to speak out against the hobby that he has loved for his entire life, seeking to restore some of the hobby's past glory to which the Laws of Collecting and of the Hobby's History entitle him, a decent respect to the opinions of collectorskind requires that he should declare the causes which impel him to card collecting pessimism
I hold these truths to be self-evident, that all cards are NOT created equal, that they are only as good as they have been endowed by their creators with certain unavoidable characteristics- that among these are Photography, Design and the pursuit of Hits. - That to secure these collectors' dreams, blogs are instituted among Men, deriving their just influence from the weight of their arguments and their readers- That whenever any Form of card manufacturer or publication becomes destructive to the demands of Collectors, it is the Right of the Collector to alter or to abolish it, and to petition for better Cards and more reliable publications, laying their foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect the Satisfaction and Happiness of Card Collectors. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Card Manufacturers long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that Card Collectors are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by attacking the sad realities to which we have grown depressingly accustomed. But when a long train of abuses- poor photography, ugly designs, sticker autographs, bad wax, loaded boxes on Beckett and ebay flooded with fakes- shows that the Hobby is in trouble, it is a collectors right, it is a collectors duty, to criticize such a Hobby, and to provide new Guards for its future security. - Such has been the patient sufferance of these Collectors; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their Hobby. The history of the present Card Manufacturers is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over this Hobby. To prove this, let this blog offer continue to offer Facts to a candid Hobby.
- The Pessimist Card Collector