My most recent read for the What the Book podcast, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, can help us understand our current situation. The book is a brilliant story about inner turmoil and how tension within oneself can reverberate through our lives. In the story, the author debates the classical and romantic viewpoints of the world.

The romantic view sees this beauty, while the classical view sees the purpose. The romantic sees the benefits, while the classical sees the work. Rights are beautiful, but the responsibility to uphold them takes effort among many different people.

A surface-level view is to say that the other side is bad and that we have to stop them by any means necessary. This view sees the government as power and whoever controls the power writes the rules.

But what about its purpose? What is it meant to do? Government is meant to represent the people.

As a congressional aide and young congressman back in the 1930s and 1940s, Lyndon Johnson excelled at fulfilling the responsibilities of the power he sought to exercise. He went out of his way to build relationships with the people who could help his district the most. He ensured constituents were responded to in a timely manner.

Johnson grew up the son of a public servant in the harsh Texas Hill Country. Life wasn’t easy. It was sometimes hard to see the beauty. Johnson learned from his parents the work it took to survive. Lyndon and his dad didn’t always see eye to eye. Lyndon wanted more.

The reason Johnson ended up becoming Master of the Senate and later President wasn’t just because he had a romantic view of the world. He had a classical view as well. He could see power, but he also put in the work.

But right now, our politicians on both the right and the left are telling us that they need more power to fix everything. They aren’t willing to do much other than fight for that power. They say our representation, our needs, and their responsibilities are secondary to winning power.

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When Johnson was in Congress, the representation ratio was 1 rep for every 300,000 people. He and his staff were diligent in responding to constituents. Yet today, some staff say it takes 80-100 emails on the same topic before the Congressperson will address the issue. Getting a response is a crapshoot, and most of the time it’s a form response.

How can politicians ask for more power when they don’t take care of the responsibilities they have now? They are spreading themselves too thin, even though they can’t handle the current workload.

Why should we trust any party that is after power without upholding their responsibilities first? Johnson was a man after power, but he also upheld his responsibilities. And he was able to do so because the system encouraged it.

I find myself politically homeless because there isn’t a faction in either major party that is serious about reform. They aren’t serious about the responsibilities of power. There is a reason that apportionment was written into the Constitution; it’s not good to ignore it for 100 years.

Since 1929, the House of Representatives has been capped at 435 members, when a representative represented about 220,000 people. Nearly a hundred years later, the population has tripled, meaning that a representative now represents nearly 800,000 people. The imbalance in growth has shifted access and accountability away from everyday Americans and toward a select few who have the means and opportunity to reach their representative.

When representation collapses, politics becomes a fight over power.

I am a Republican, but I don’t see Democrats as the enemy. I see them as my friends and neighbors. I see them as people who see the same thing that I see. Things are broken, and we need leaders to fix them. But it’s unfortunate because our leaders aren’t trying to fix them; they’re fighting for power. Every election is a zero-sum election. Every election is the end of the world if your team doesn’t win. Except that it isn’t. And it just keeps going.

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the author discusses the problems with technology. He writes, “The way to solve the conflict between human values and technological needs is not to run away from the technology.”

Government is a concentration of power–– but the purpose of government is to represent people, and these two things are in conflict. The answer is not to run away from government, or to destroy it. The way to resolve this is to embrace self-government.

Right now, the capped system rewards fighting for power instead of representing people. Our problem is that we are still letting it happen. We want rights, but we aren’t upholding our responsibilities, and as a result, our representatives aren’t either.

In American history, we have been lucky to have leaders who don’t just chase power but fulfill responsibilities. Leaders who can see through the trees and bring the American people where they need to go. And the problem we face, beyond our lack of representation, is a lack of real leadership.

What is the endgame of the gerrymandering wars? How exactly are democrats or republicans going to fix the problem if they win the House in 2026?

In the system that Johnson operated in, it was much easier to represent a district of constituents because there were far fewer of them. Now there are so many that even a representative who wants to fulfill their responsibilities can’t keep up. They are overwhelmed.

We need leaders who want to uncap the house, bringing voters and representatives closer together.

Peace, Love, and Representation,

Jeff Mayhugh

Each party draws their lines. And with every event comes an argument, and then the escalation starts. Somebody starts yelling, so the other person starts yelling. Somebody starts saying mean things, the other person says meaner things. The escalation continues until… maybe it gets physical, maybe somebody walks away, or maybe somebody has a moment of reflection.

It’s a choice we make.

A moment where, instead of thinking about what the other person did wrong, we think about what we did, how we can react, and what we can do. And in that moment of reflection, that conciliation, that small act of humility toward the person we’ve been battling, the temperature starts to go down. The mean words go away. Yelling gets softer until it’s gone. And now you can talk again, honestly. Maybe you say the things that you’ve been meaning to say but never did. Maybe you say the same thing that you’ve always said, but this time, for the first time in a long time, it was heard.

I believe uncapping the House is possible because the government is nothing more than a relationship between the people who govern and the people who are governed. And I believe people are good. I believe people are willing to reflect instead of continuing to escalate.

It’s necessary because when one representative is expected to speak for nearly 750,000 people, politics stops being a conversation and becomes a war.

I have been speaking with No Cap Fund volunteers a lot lately. And what they tell me should give us all hope. Many have only recently heard about uncapping the House, and they can’t stop thinking or talking about it. They share how frustrated they are by all the fighting and by the direction of the country. And they are making a choice to reflect on what they can do, and they are choosing to do something productive. They are done with the fighting. One volunteer told me that he decided to sign up because it seemed like the best option, saying, Uncapping the House is something that can actually get done. It fixes something that doesn’t really make sense. It’s about the most nonpartisan issue out there. And it’s in our DNA. No taxation without representation.

I believe uncapping the House is possible because it just makes sense. Do we really want to continue to escalate? California gerrymanders, so Texas gerrymanders, so Virginia gerrymanders. Everybody gerrymanders until when? When does it stop? We have to stop Donald Trump. We have to stop JD Vance. We have to stop the progressive socialist democrats. Everything is an escalation until we take a moment to reflect.

Why do we have 435 representatives in the House?

No one really knows. It’s completely arbitrary.

And when people stop and think about it for a moment, they realize something important: it doesn’t make sense. Their voice gets softer. They slow down, and they listen. That’s why I know uncapping the House is the right reform at the right time.

Because that’s what the people want. It gives them something productive to do. They want the people elected to office to do their, excuse my language, F#*king job. They want them to stop fighting like divorced parents and work it out.

We have a choice.

We can keep escalating, fighting the same battles over and over again.

Or we can do something productive.

We can fix the system.

We can uncap the House.

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Peace, Love, and Representation,

Jeff Mayhugh,

President, No Cap Fund

Hello No Cap Fans!

There is a lot going on, so let’s get straight to it!

As I have said many times, representation will be the most significant political topic of our generation. Mostly because it’s an issue that affects everyone, not just certain groups. And more and more lately, we are seeing evidence that it’s happening sooner than later. Last week, Sean Casten (D-IL) and Vox released a video The House of Representatives is too small. Here is one way to fix it. Rep. Casten has introduced a package of legislation to reform our system, which includes a proposal to expand the House by approximately 230 members. Check out the video below! Call Casten’s officeand let them know you support his efforts!

Last time I wrote you, I mentioned the change in leadership at No Cap Fund. Today I want to share with you the reason for that change. Walter Clapp stepped down as President of No Cap Fund to head up The Representation Foundation. What is the Representation Foundation, you ask? I will let Walter explain:

The Representation Foundation is the 501(c)(3) sister organization of the No Cap Fund 501 (c)(4). We are very excited to have Walter spearhead this operation and look forward to the future.

Meanwhile, at No Cap Fund, our new board member Matt Beat, aka Mr. Beat, has brought a ton of energy to the project, spearheading an email campaign to his representative and inspiring others to join in. He spoke with Sharon McMahon about representation reform when he interviewed (short linked) her on his Live Stream recently (full interview below).

Mr. Beat also interviewed Sean Casten about uncapping the house on Monday. Rep. Casten says for him to be successful in getting co-sponsors for his bill, we the people, need to promote it! So let’s keep talking about House expansion, but let’s get just a little bit louder. Call your Representative!!

Since Matt joined the team, 37 people have either signed the Declaration for Representation or signed up to volunteer, and most of that is thanks to Mr. Beat.

Speaking of volunteering, we are making great progress on our No Cap Fund Representation Chapters. We have confirmed a Chapter Leader in Oregon and several more in the works across the country. I will be hosting a grassroots leadership chat on the third Thursday of each month to maintain continuity between the local and national movements. Our first meeting will take place on February 17th at 8:00 PM EST, where we will discuss meeting structure, crowd management, and how to invite guests. If you are interested in becoming a leader, visit our website and sign up to volunteer today!

To help support those Grassroots chapters, the board voted to purchase a marketing package that includes tablecloths, signage, and literature. We will bring our new materials with us when Roger, Walter, and I are at the Principles First 2026 Summit on February 21st and 22nd. If you are in the area, consider stopping by to see us. You can learn more about the event and get tickets on the Principles First website.

Yesterday, on the Representation Station, we interviewed Yuval Levin from AEI. Yuval is a leading thinker on House Expansion. He co-authored The Case for Enlarging the House of Representatives for the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Yuval agrees that uncaping the house is the linchpin for reform in Congress and points out that it doesn’t benefit one party over another, but it would benefit all Americans.

Watch the full conversation below.

Thank you to all our new followers and volunteers! If you are passionate about representation, we want to hear from you. Comment below letting us know why you believe the house should be uncapped and expanded. And if you called your rep, let us know what they said.

Peace, Love, and Representation,

Jeff Mayhugh

Below is a post from the Uncapped Pappers I wanted to share with you all.

Hey, No Cap fans, 2025 was a foundational year for the organization. We were hard at work learning how to build a successful institution for the future. Now that we are in the new year, we are ready to take the next steps.

With that, we have some exciting news to share. In January, we added two new board members: Thomas Howes and Matt Beat. Thomas is the editor-in-chief of the Vital Center and the founder of the Reagan Caucus and Reagan Caucus Action, and a lecturer in politics at Princeton University. Matt is a Dole Institute of Politics Fellow and a former middle school teacher turned YouTube sensation. His YouTube channels, Mr. Beat and The Beat Goes On, have collectively gained over 1 million subscribers and over 350 million views. We also shifted leadership, with Walter becoming Vice President and me (Jeff Mayhugh) becoming President.

In 2026, No Cap Fund is focused on sparking conversation about uncapping the house across four spheres: Citizens, donors, policymakers, and media. My focus as incoming president is to create a grassroots movement and a fundraising pipeline for the organization. The 2030 census is fast approaching, and our goal this year is to insert uncapping the house into the 2026 midterm elections.

In December, we hit our fundraising goal of $5,000 and have raised just over $1,000 so far in January. Gotta start somewhere. Little by little, we will build. We have two grassroots meetings on the books in Virginia and Wyoming, and are in talks with volunteers in Alabama, Michigan, and New Jersey to start more. In February, the No Cap Crew, Walter, Roger, and I, will be at the Principles First Conference asking guests and panelist Why 435?

We have also started an email campaign. On our updated website, there is a form letter that supporters can copy and paste to send to their congressional representative and their senators. While you’re there, you can also browse our new Swag shop–wear your love of representative government on your sleeve.

If you want to help, here are a few things you can do.

1. Talk about uncapping the house with your friends and neighbors. Visit our website for information. We will be adding content throughout the next few months.

2. Email your rep, or local or national media, and ask them to talk about uncapping the house.

3. Make a donation or connect us with possible donors.

4. Sign the Declaration of Representation on our website.

5. Sign up to volunteer and host a grassroots chapter.

Thank you all for your support. We understand there is a lot of fear in the world right now. People feel powerless and are worried about the economy, the possibility of war, and civil unrest. Here is my advice: Turn off the news and funnel your frustration into something productive. You are not powerless. There is strength in numbers. Together, we can make representative government great again.

Oh! And don’t forget to subscribe, if you are not already, to keep up to date on the happenings of uncapping the house.

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Peace, Love, and Representation,

Jeff Mayhugh

In my Reading Reflection post, I teased a future piece about American Capitalism; well, it’s out, but over at The Vital Center. You can read it here.

The main idea of the piece is about creating localized capital markets where small businesses can raise equity locally by getting residents to invest. A friend read it and asked me what policies could make it happen. My answer was none.

I don’t think policy is required at the outset. This is something citizens can begin doing now, using existing law. Communities already have the legal tools to form cooperatives, community investment funds, or regulated crowdfunding entities. Some of these entities already exist, but not at the community level. This makes the first step organizational, not legislative.

A community can come together and pool modest amounts of capital to invest in small, productive local businesses—the kinds of businesses that already generate steady cash flow but struggle to scale. A good example is plumbing. In many places, plumbing companies appear local, but they’ve been quietly nationalized. They operate under familiar names, yet decisions are made by distant corporate offices. This has changed how the work is done, often to the frustration of both customers and employees.

Many skilled plumbers leave these firms to start their own businesses because they want to serve clients better and regain independence. The problem isn’t demand—it’s capital. Without access to startup equity, they can’t hire employees, buy equipment, or grow. As a result, they remain one-person or two-person operations.

That’s not unusual. About 49% of small businesses in the United States have just one to four workers, and many are effectively self-employed. Part of this is ambition, part regulation, and part a lack of capital. Blue-collar service businesses are often dismissed as “boring” because they don’t sell the flashy new product, but they are high-revenue and provide essential services. As a result, they generate predictable income and could pay dividends relatively quickly.

Localized capital markets would allow communities to invest in exactly these kinds of firms—helping them grow, create jobs, and keep ownership rooted locally. Communities need trusted businesses that can service their basic needs, and businesses need capital to scale. Creating a circulation of wealth will increase consumer confidence and grow the local economy as the employees and businesses reinvest in the local market. No sweeping new policy is required to start. What’s needed first is coordination, trust, and ambition to be bold.

Also, while I am here, I have had two other articles published in the past weeks that I’d like to share with you. In The Hill, I wrote about AI bringing about a four-day work week rather than the end of the world, and in Real Clear Politics, I wrote that if Republicans want to win in the midterms, they need to lean on their biggest box-office draw, Donald Trump.

Make sure you subscribe to keep up to date. 2026 is going to be a big year. I will be sharing some exciting news about the No Cap Fund in the upcoming weeks.

Peace & Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

Last year, I set the ridiculous goal of reading 100 pages per day for 2025. And I am happy to report that I met this goal with one small caveat. In June, when my father-in-law passed, I suspended the goal to spend more time with family. When I started back up in July, I revised the goal for weekdays only.

In 2025, I completed 70 books and read another 13 that I did not finish. In total, I read 27,980 pages, averaging 107 per day. I also read the bible nearly every day, although I did not count that in my figures. I didn’t read the entire Bible this year, but I did read the entire New Testament. Scroll to the end to see my full reading list for 2025.

I set this goal for various reasons. One of those reasons was that, after reading so much for such a short period of time over the last few years, I found myself struggling to find motivation to read. In my endeavor with No Cap Fund, education is a priority for me. Understanding the nuances of the American political system and policy is something that I need to maintain focus on. And I knew that if I set a goal, I’d be more motivated to keep going.

I also wanted to start representation chapters, or, as they’ve evolved into, town halls, where I represent my local community, gather people together, and talk about a specific policy issue. And I wasn’t prepared to do that last year, and I wanted to be prepared by 2026 for the midterms. First meeting is January 27th, 2026. If you want to learn more about this and RSVP, check out the community events page on www.why435.org.

So, I set a goal, and I was intentional about what I read. I continued my reading of American political history, moving up through the timeline, the 60s, 70s, and into the 80s. I dove deeper into the dark ages of American politics, the Antebellum period, and the Gilded Age. I also focused on economics because, as James Carville famously said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” I expanded into world history this year, as well as energy, tech, and China. I studied the ideas of modern thinkers on political reform and dove into one of the most contentious policy issues of the day: immigration.

So, as the year comes to a close and a new year begins, I figured I’d give you a little review of what I learned, some of my favorites, and least favorites of 2025.

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American Politics: 60s, 70s, and 80s.

After reading about Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Korea, and Vietnam, it seems to me that America began to lose its way after World War II. The politics of LBJ and the leadership style of Nixon had a corrosive effect on the country. In its fear of communism, America too often confused nationalism with ideological subversion, leading to interventions that ultimately did more harm than good. That does not mean America is the villain of history only that, like any nation, it is imperfect. We shouldn’t shy away from our mistakes; we should study and learn from them. And for all their faults, leaders like LBJ and Nixon were acting on what they believed to be the best information available at the time. They were more cutthroat and morally ambiguous than others, but they were also trying, in their own ways, to do good and they did achieve some genuine accomplishments along the way.

The Economy

What I learned this year is that James Carville is right; it is all about the economy. People care about their livelihood, their ability to raise their family, pay their bills, and pursue happiness. Whether that be buying a new car, going on vacation, or just setting up their family for future success, it’s impossible to read any type of American political history without reading about economics.

But I dove into economics as a whole this year, reading Capitalism in America, Capital in the 21st Century, Capitalism and Freedom, 1929, and Ages of American Capitalism, among others. What I learned is that the economy is both simple and complicated, but I will have more on that in a later Substack.

Dark Ages of American Politics

In my reading of the dark ages of American politics, specifically the antebellum period, I realized how dangerously close we are to coming unraveled as a nation. There are stunning similarities between the dysfunction that led to the Civil War and the dysfunction we are experiencing right now.

Specifically, an imbalance of representation, politicians gerrymandering for power, the inability to elect a speaker in the House, and the rise of political violence. We saw the rise of violence in both the Antebellum period and the Gilded Age, and again in the 60s. It happens when people feel unrepresented, and their rights are being ignored. Leaders stoke divisions, and society’s loners act on their worst impulses. With the assassination attempts on President Trump and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we are seeing it again today.

We must realize that we are all on the same team. We have to stop pointing fingers at each other and come together around a common cause. And that common cause in American history has been self-government, the ability to represent ourselves through elected representatives who represent our interests.

That’s why at No Cap Fund, we encourage people to unite for representation. We want to channel people’s frustration into something constructive and positive. Representation gives people a voice, an opportunity to use their words and their ballot to make change, so they don’t have to resort to violence.

World History

In world history, I read about the French Revolution, the British Empire, the Vietnam War, the Ottoman Empire, Palestine, Egypt, and Athens. And what I learned is that everyone wants power and agency over their own lives. When it comes to government, that power and that agency is found in representation. Whether it be the English Civil War, the French Revolution, or the American Revolution, they were all battles for more representation.

Even the Vietnam War began, at its core, as a fight for self-government. After World War I, Ho Chi Minh went to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, hoping to appeal to President Woodrow Wilson’s promise of national self-determination. He asked for a representative government and basic political rights for the Vietnamese people. He was ignored.

That rejection helped push Vietnam down a darker path. What began as a nationalist demand for representation became a violent struggle against French colonial rule, and later a civil and ideological war that pulled in the United States. In the end, it was a tragedy rooted in the failure to take self-government seriously when it was first peacefully requested.

Immigration

Reading about immigration, I’ve come to appreciate how important immigrants have been to the success of the American Republic. At the same time, history shows how bad political actors can exploit immigration. In the late nineteenth century, figures like Boss Tweed used immigrant communities as political pawns—trading favors, protection, and patronage for votes to entrench their power.

That danger has not disappeared. Today, political incentives still exist to treat immigration as a tool for power. Some elected officials have openly admitted they want to bring in more immigrants to their district “just for redistricting purposes,” so they can keep their seat. At the same time, recent controversies and investigations in places like Minnesota have raised concerns about corruption, mismanagement, or abuse connected to immigration-related programs. These patterns undermine public trust and weaken support for reform.

Politicians should support immigration because it strengthens America, not because it helps them hold office. They should pursue serious, honest reform: securing the system, keeping bad actors out, and providing a clear, lawful pathway to citizenship for those who want to contribute and meet the requirements.

Everyone deserves representation in the government where they live. And that means a proper representation ratio. The principle of representation has been fought for time and time again throughout history. If America truly believes in self-government, then we must defend that right.

Political Reform

In my reading on political philosophy this year, I realized how we’re not really as divided as our political leaders would have us think. Those in academia have different ideas, but at the core, they all agree that self-government rests on representation. Left, right, and center all agree we need to uncap the house. Americans deserve representation.

Energy, Tech, and China

While reading about energy, technology, and China, I came to better understand how central energy is to economic growth and human prosperity, and how critical technological leadership will be to the future. The United States and China are now engaged in a long-term competition for global influence and technological leadership. We do not have to be hostile toward China, but we also should not ignore the reality of that competition.

Meeting this moment requires confidence rather than fear. We should be investing in clean, abundant sources of energy that expand prosperity and strengthen national resilience. And rather than shying away from new technologies, we should seek to understand and master them before they master us.

Favorite Biography of 2025

My favorite biography I read this year was An Unfinished Life by Robert Dallek about John F. Kennedy. I loved this book because John F. Kennedy is a very complex and interesting figure. His story is one of virtue and vice, and there is much to be learned from it. He was president at an incredibly tense time in American history. Kennedy was born to be a leader in a family of wealth and privilege. He saw it as his duty to sacrifice for his country. Although he was riddled with debilitating conditions that left him in constant pain, he still served during WWII. His brother was killed, and he nearly lost his life rescuing fellow service members after their PT boats were attacked.

His handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis was masterful, and few leaders could have navigated such immense pressure without catastrophe. Surrounded by military, political, and international forces pushing toward escalation, he chose restraint over impulse. The weight of the world rested on his shoulders, yet it did not crush him. Instead, he eased it down through patience, diplomacy, and a belief that even adversaries could be reasoned with, choosing peace over pride, and judgment over force.

Runner-up

The runner-up for favorite biography was President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier by CW Goodyear. The Netflix show Death by Lightning took history nerds like me by storm this year. The show is based on Candace Millard’s book Destiny of the Republic about Garfield’s assassination, which I read a few years ago. Goodyear’s biography was a lot more detailed, and it gave me a fuller understanding of who James Garfield was.

He was somebody who came to political power through a very contentious time in American politics. He served in the Civil War, in the House of Representatives, and eventually became president during a period of grand corruption. His focus was cleansing his party and American politics of that corruption, and it ultimately cost him his life. But his legacy lived on. His death was not in vain, and reform did set in.

Hardest book of 2025

The hardest book I read this year was Capital in the Twenty-First Century. It was so hard, in fact, that I didn’t even finish it. I put it down for another time. It’s written by French economist Thomas Piketty, and I found myself overwhelmed at times while reading the book. I decided I needed a bit more background before continuing.

Runner up

The second-hardest book I read this year was Ages of American Capitalism. It was a different kind of hard. It was challenging to read because it was so dense, covered so much information, and was very long. I did enjoy it through. I definitely understand economics more in a practical sense than in a theoretical one. Reading about how it affects individuals day to day and how politics shift definitely helped me better understand what I had read about Capital in the Twenty-First Century. In fact, it helped so much that, as I mentioned, I have a Substack coming soon about it. I will be going back to Capital in the Twenty-First Century in 2026.

Favorite nonfiction book of 2025

My favorite nonfiction book of the year was Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall, which explores the origins of the Vietnam War. The book does an excellent job dissecting the complex and often competing factions involved, including Vietnamese nationalist and communist movements, the French colonial regime in Indochina, and, eventually, the growing role of the United States. It offers clear explanations for why the conflict emerged and how it escalated, along with vivid accounts of key battles and detailed insight into how decisions were made both on the ground and behind closed doors for political and strategic reasons.

Runner-up

My runner-up for favorite nonfiction book of the year was 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin. This was a story about the stock market crash of 1929. It was enlightening and educational, helping me understand what makes the market run and what brings it down. To put it simply, the market runs on confidence, and it’s brought down by over-speculation. Sorkin does a great job telling the story of the market crash and the people involved in it and in its aftermath.

Favorite fiction book of 2025

My favorite fiction book of the year was Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. For those of you who follow me over on Written Works and listen to the What the Book podcast, know that I love Orson Scott Card, and Shadow of the Giant was kind of the finale of the Shadow series. It was amazing! It was a very emotional read for me, because I had to say goodbye to a bunch of characters whom I’d come to know over the course of the series.

OSC always does a great job with his geopolitics, factions, power, virtue, and vice. Shadow the Giant was no different. I highly recommend that you pick it up and read it. In fact, read the whole Shadow series.

Runner up

My runner-up for the year was Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. My dad actually bought me this book when I was a kid, but it was the children’s version, and I had never actually read the full adult version. I have to admit, the first hundred pages had me a little bored. But after that, the book was amazing. The detail in which Vern writes as the characters explore the center of the earth really paints a beautiful picture in your mind as you’re reading. It’s thoughtful and incredibly interesting.

Least favorite book of 2025

My least favorite read I had all year was Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life by Stephen Kendrick and Paul Kendrick. It’s not that the story isn’t valuable. It’s that the book is written in a dry, mundane, and politically biased way. It doesn’t tell the story as much as it lectures you. I didn’t enjoy it or finish it. I put it down, and maybe I’ll come back to it in 2026. Martin Luther King is one of the people I want to read about in the new year, and after reading his biography, I might come back to this book with a different perspective.

Runner up

The runner-up for Worst Book of the Year for me was Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This was another book that I read for the What the Book podcast. I’ve always wanted to read this, and I regretted it. For me, it was difficult to keep track of the characters, as they all had Russian names that were very similar. I didn’t like the main character; he was an axe murderer and constantly rationalizing his bad behavior. The characters often just droned on and on and on about their misery. It wasn’t very suspenseful, and it was full of dialogue. It was a slog to get through.

Overall favorite book of 2025

And finally, my favorite book I read in 2025 was The Conductor by Caleb Franz. I loved this book for many reasons. First, it tells the story of a largely overlooked figure from the antebellum period who helped enslaved people escape to freedom. Before reading it, I had never heard of John Rankin, yet his life and convictions were deeply inspiring. Rankin helped lay part of the moral foundation of the abolitionist movement through both his actions and his writing.

The story isn’t only about escape and resistance; it’s also a story about family, about the break between Rankin and his brother over slavery, and about the love, trust, and shared purpose between Rankin and his sons. I’m a sucker for books that tell a strong family story, and The Conductor tells one that needed to be told. I highly recommend it. Go pick up a copy!

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Final Reflection

As I look at the books I read this year and compare them to the op-eds I wrote, I notice that many of the op-eds were directly fed by what I read. (Check out my latest op-ed No, AI won’t ruin your life — it might even give you a four-day work week out today in The Hill.) And if I had to give any piece of advice for any young person out there looking to wield political power, looking to get published and have their voice heard, it’s to read. It feeds your soul. It feeds your mind. It gives you the words to express yourself and the power to defend your rights. Like Fredrick Douglas said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Peace & Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

Check out my full reading list for 2025 below.

1. His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life — Jonathan Alter

2. Richard Nixon: The Life — John A. Farrell

3. American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race — Douglas Brinkley

4. Reagan: A Life — H. W. Brands

5. Anthem — Ayn Rand

6. The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama

7. Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life — Stephen Kendrick and Paul Kendrick

8. Capital in the Twenty-First Century — Thomas Piketty

9. An Ordinary Man — Richard Norton Smith

10. The Conservative Environmentalist — Benji Backer

11. American Carnage — Tim Alberta

12. The Jazz Age President — Ryan S. Walters

13. The Emperor’s Soul — Brandon Sanderson

14. The Price of Power — Michael Tackett

15. Party of One: The Rise of Xi Jinping and China’s Superpower Future — Chun Han Wong

16. The Technological Republic — Alexander C. Karp & Nicholas W. Zamiska

17. A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution — Jeremy D. Popkin

18. The English and Their History — Robert Tombs

19. Lost Horizon — James Hilton

20. Prisoners of Geography — Tim Marshall

21. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind — Yuval Noah Harari

22. Citizen Newt — Craig Shirley

23. Abundance — Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson

24. Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back — Marc J. Dunkelman

25. Reaganland: America’s Right Turn, 1976–1980 — Rick Perlstein

26. Family Unfriendly — Timothy P. Carney

27. Means of Control — Byron Tau

28. Energy: A Human History — Richard Rhodes

29. Capitalism in America — Alan Greenspan & Adrian Wooldridge

30. Overruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law — Neil Gorsuch & Janie Nitze

31. Capitalism and Freedom — Milton Friedman

32. Breakfast of Champions — Kurt Vonnegut

33. The Conductor — Caleb Franz

34. No Longer Human — Osamu Dazai

35. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus — Rick Perlstein

36. Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam — Fredrik Logevall

37. George Marshall: Defender of the Republic — David L. Roll

38. Animal Farm — George Orwell

39. House of Huawei — Eva Dou

40. Original Sin — Jake Tapper & Alex Thompson

41. The Screwtape Letters — C. S. Lewis

42. How Democracies Die — Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt

43. Mao: The Unknown Story — Jung Chang & Jon Halliday

44. Journey to the Center of the Earth — Jules Verne

45. Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution — Richard Beeman

46. Fraud & Politics at the turn of the century — Joseph L. Bristow

47. The Concept of Representation — Hanna Fenichel Pitkin

48. Shadow Puppets — Orson Scott Card

49. Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America — Sam Tanenhaus

50. The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs — Marc David Baer

51. Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict — Oren Kessler

52. The Rise and Fall of Egypt — Toby Wilkinson

53. Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation — Zaakir Tameez

54. Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman

55. Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop — Lee Drutman

56. The Rise of Athens — Anthony Everitt

57. Crime and Punishment — Fyodor Dostoevsky

58. The Primary Solution — Nick Troiano

59. Martin Van Buren: America’s First Politician — James M. Bradley

60. The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding — Osita Nwanevu

61. Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future — Patrick J. Deneen

62. 1776 — David McCullough

63. City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York — Tyler Anbinder

64. President McKinley: Architect of the American Century — Robert W. Merry

65. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 — Robert Dallek

66. The War on Warriors — Pete Hegseth

67. Shadow of the Giant — Orson Scott Card

68. Decade of Disunion — Robert W. Merry

69. A Nation of Immigrants — John F. Kennedy

70. Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World — Tom Holland

71. 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation — Andrew Ross Sorkin

72. The Ages of American Capitalism — Jonathan Levy

73. Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here — Jonathan Blitzer

74. Shadows in Flight — Orson Scott Card

75. President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier — C. W. Goodyear

76. Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice — Bruce Levine

77. American Rascal — Greg Steinmetz

78. Lincoln’s Mentors — Michael J. Gerhardt

79. Emergence — Craig T. Stewart

80. Henry Clay: The Essential American — David S. Heidler & Jeanne T. Heidler

81. War on Normal People — Andrew Yang

82. Notes on Being a Man — Scott Galloway

83. 1848: Year of Revolution — Mike Rapport

It’s not like I didn’t believe in God before I became a Christian. I kind of always believed. When I was a kid, I would say I didn’t believe, but secretly I’d pray in my bedroom at night. I didn’t go to church. I didn’t understand faith. But deep down inside, I always felt like there was something more to this life.

Having faith is one thing; being a Christian is another.

After getting baptized in 2023, I remember having a conversation with a close friend of mine. He was excited for me. And he said something that I think about often. He said, “Now comes the tough part: sanctification.” I didn’t quite understand what he meant at the time, but I definitely get it now.

Being a Christian is hard. As Christians, we understand that we’re not perfect. But we are in this endeavor to be more like Jesus, who is perfect. We’re never going to be successful in this life, and yet we accept that.

It’s like running a race you know you’re never going to finish. Sometimes it gets tiring. You just want to give up and step off the course. But I think it’s important to remember that I’m not racing for me. I’m racing for others, for him.

One of the core tenets of being a Christian is forgiveness, and I’ve found that it’s sometimes easier to forgive others than to forgive yourself. My mind is constantly running, replaying all my mistakes, all the things that I regret.

I don’t often think about the things people do wrong to me, but I do often think about the things I do wrong. I try my best to make amends and apologize when I’ve made a mistake, but it doesn’t help. I still find myself with that feeling in the pit of my stomach. That uneasy feeling about the mistake I wish I hadn’t made. To paraphrase Sinatra, regrets, I have a lot.

Even though I’m trying, I will never be anything other than a sinful man. I keep running, and sometimes it doesn’t feel like I’m going anywhere. I know that he has forgiven me, and I know that if I can forgive myself, I can break the cycle I am stuck in and move toward my goal. But that’s easier said than done.

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This world doesn’t make it easy either. There’s temptation everywhere. There’s a bar on every corner. There’s basically a brothel on every phone. People solve their problems by lying, cheating, screaming, yelling, and fighting. I’m not here to judge; I’ve done my fair share of screaming and yelling, too. I try to turn the other cheek, then I turn it back the other way, and then I turn it back the other way. It never stops, and eventually, I just get angry, and I say what I really think. And yes, sometimes the things need to be said, but not in anger and frustration, which is obvious to others when I am at my worst.

Before I became a Christian, I would rationalize this and say, well, at least I was telling the truth. Now that I’m a Christian, it’s not good enough. Now I need to tell the truth with kindness and gentleness in my heart. And the truth is, I’m not a gentle soul. I’m an animal. I am competitive. I can be ruthless, and I try my best not to be. I so often go against my instincts that I find myself falling behind in life.

I get down on myself about it, but then I ask: would I rather be good and do the right thing for the Lord, or be successful in the eyes of the world? And what is success anyway? Is it a fancy car, a lot of numbers in your bank account, or is it peace and love with your family? Is it making God smile?

The funny thing is that the more numbers that are in your bank account, the easier it is to find peace and love with your family. It’s hard to be calm and peaceful when you’re struggling to make ends meet. Worried about this or that.

And it’s not like I’m in a terrible financial position. I have done well for myself and my family. I mention this because I just read Andrew Yang’s book The War on Normal People. He speaks about this. About how there’s this perception that poor people are somehow lazy or bad. The reality is that it’s just more difficult to be good when you’re in survival mode.

Jesus knows this.

That’s why he invited us into his kingdom. That’s why he gave us a path to be good and to find peace, free from the materialistic things this world brings us. That’s why he asks us to serve others. He helps us fight off temptation and reminds us that we are forgiven and loved. All we have to do is believe. Believe in him. Believe that we can be better day after day, step by step. And when we do, we get a little closer to that finish line. We are called to follow him.

While it doesn’t feel like the race will ever end and we’ll never win, it’s not about winning. It’s about the journey, about trying our best, about doing good, about serving others, and about serving God. It’s a daily call to sacrifice and to follow something bigger. To put your faith in Jesus into daily action.

Being a Christian is hard. Still, I don’t want to be anything else.

Peace and Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

The allegations proposed in Age of Disclosure and previous congressional hearings hint at the possibility of an unknown species visiting Earth or a foreign adversary with superior technology and surveying our most important military sites. As Americans learn about this, they will feel misled and kept in the dark. It might stir conspiracies or even anger in some. Those leading need to consider the best way to get to the bottom of this and communicate it to the American people.

To usher in an Age of Disclosure, we must repair self-government and return to a government of the people.

The movie explores how a bureaucratic mix of private and public entities has withheld vital information from Congress, the President, and the public about UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena). The film features interviews with 34 senior government officials and some high-profile politicians, like current Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY).

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At a National Security congressional hearing back on July 26^th, 2023, former Navy pilot Ryan Graves described a UAP as a “Dark grey or black cube inside of a clear sphere.” His description is consistent with that of several officials in the documentary. Mr. Graves has founded Americans for Safe Aerospace to provide a safe place for commercial and military pilots to report UAP sightings, as many are afraid to come forward due to the stigma associated with it.

The UAPs are described as maneuvering outside the bounds of physics as we know it, traveling up to 40,000 MPH, and changing direction on a dime 10x faster than an SR-71. For comparison, the fastest plane we have travels at 4,600 MPH. They reportedly travel from space to the atmosphere into the ocean without losing any velocity. A theory of the technology is that an energy field so strong is created around the ship that it allows the ship to move without the environment affecting it at speeds previously thought impossible.

Besides the advanced flight capabilities, the most concerning aspect is where they are flying. UAPs are actively surveilling US nuclear sites and reportedly have activated nuclear weapons in both the United States and Russia.

Former Intelligence officer David Grusch testified that the US has engaged in a “multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program,” and said that “nonhuman biologics” have been recovered. In the documentary, it’s claimed that the US, Russia, and China are all in possession of UAP technology and are in a cold war race to reverse engineer it.

Since 1969, the military has stated that UFOs do not pose a threat to national security. However, with this new information, most Americans might disagree. Besides national security, it’s also a matter of self-government. The public has a right to know the truth and decide how to proceed. You might wonder how a decades-old secret program restricted from members of Congress and the president gets funded. Mr. Grusch suggests that funds are misappropriated, meaning that funds Congress intends for one program are redirected without congressional approval.

This all may sound like a massive cover-up, but that would be an oversimplification of the problem. In the film, Marco Rubio describes how layers of bureaucracy prevent important information from reaching the top of the chain of command. How elected officials change, how department heads change, and how the only people left are the thirty-year public servants holding this very sensitive information. With such polarization and politicization of any issue, these officials probably struggle to know who to trust.

Solving this problem is a matter of rebuilding a structure of trust and communication.

Representative Tim Burchett said, “We can’t trust a government that doesn’t trust its people.” However, our government is supposed to be a government of the people, yet we have strayed from that principle. Congress is responsible for providing appropriations and exercising oversight, yet it is overwhelmed and outnumbered by a bureaucracy that is more than 5,000 times its size.

The federal government employs more than 2 million civilians (non-Postal, non-military), and the Department of Defense alone employs 950,000 people. The military workforce is about 2.1 million civilians, and government contractors employ another estimated 1 million civilians. It’s nearly impossible to know for sure, but a 2015 study on the true size of government estimated the total federal workforce at around 9.1 million.

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Counterbalance that with the 535 elected members of Congress who are responsible for providing oversight and appropriations for the workforce. The House and Senate employ about 15,000 staff to help, but much of their time is spent on constituent services, serving the over 330 million Americans.

We don’t know whether the UAPs are an alien species conducting research or a foreign adversary that has surpassed us in technology. Either one is a scary prospect. We could pretend it isn’t real and gamble that nothing will happen. Opening the possibility that one of our adversaries uses the technology against us. Or we could be proactive, developing technology to take the next step in human civilization, helping foster an era of clean, abundant energy that nearly eliminates poverty.

But to do that, we need transparency.

We would need the people of America on board. We must uncap and expand the House of Representatives to balance the people and the bureaucracy. We must empower Congress by giving it the tools to provide proper oversight. By expanding the House of Representatives, we not only share power with the American people but also build trust with them by asking them to be part of the solution and enhancing communication.

If you are scrolling through social media or channel surfing, you are probably seeing a bunch of bad news this morning. Seeing all the negativity and hate can be discouraging, and we can sometimes start to believe that nothing will get better. However, I am here to tell you that it isn’t true. We just need to refocus our attention.

I want you to take a moment and listen to a Dispatch podcast episode called The Eunuch Congress. Starting about 40 minutes in, they discuss how Congress has ceded and concentrated power, and how Congress must retake its power.

One of the reforms mentioned is expanding the House of Representatives. They point out that district sizes are too large and that the country’s populist sentiment is shut out as a result. The House has been turned into a mini Senate, and that is a big problem.

The question is proposed, okay, you want to expand the house, how do you get it done? And they talk about how, in history, it’s typically a small faction of determined individuals who make things like this possible, and how, if we want to get this done, we have to turn that populist energy into reform. We’ve got to amend the Constitution in many ways, but we really need to give people a voice, make them feel like they’re part of the process, and empower self-government.

At No Cap Fund, we are a small faction of very determined individuals with a plan to empower self-government. We welcome those into our tent who are focused on not just the ends but the means by which we achieve our ends. Meaning that we all need structure and rules to decide fairly on how we live in our society, and once we uncap the house, we can argue all day long about our conservative or our progressive policy, but until we fix the means in which we achieve our ends, everyone’s going to be unhappy, nothing’s going to get done, and it will continue to get worse.

People generally do not willingly give up power. We need to focus our populist energy not on another politician but on a process. We need to empower our own voice in the House of Representatives. For those Americans who are tired of being ignored and want to be part of the process again, we must speak up and demand representation.

So, if you’re the type of person who wants to be part of something special, if you believe in structure and order, if you believe that people should have a right to self-government and to have a voice in their country, then go to www.why435.org and sign up for a monthly donation of $10, $25, or $50 and help us amplyfiy the your voice. And then share this post with a friend and ask them to join you.

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While you are there, sign our Declaration for Representation, and if you are really passionate, sign up to volunteer. We will be rolling out Local Representation Chapters starting in 2026, and we need your help!

We can do better. We just have to work together again toward a common purpose of self-government. All hope is not lost.

Peace, Love, and Representation,

Jeff Mayhugh

Deciding to set myself aside a few years ago and focus my talents on others rather than myself has been challenging, to say the least. I’ve struggled dealing with it at times. It’s hard to know what you don’t know, and while I did know sacrifice would be hard, I had no idea how difficult it would be.

Sometimes I get down or angry, or both. I try my best not to let these feelings get the best of me. I have sought guidance from mentors, the Bible, and most importantly, God. And overall, compared to other leaders I have read about, at times, I think I’m doing ok, maybe okish…

There are times when I feel overwhelmed, like a failure, selfish, and I begin to doubt. It makes me want to give up, but that doubt is just a lie. It’s just the easy way out, and the easy way might be fulfilling in the moment, but it’s not the plan God has laid out for me. This is when faith, something I am learning about, kicks in, and I learn to trust, accept, and move forward.

On my journey for reform, besides educating myself, I have also worked to become a better person. More disciplined and thoughtful, more reflective and less reactionary. This has meant defeating my addictions and working hard. Most people wouldn’t think that I am an addict, but I am, and strangely, it’s a strength of mine.

My personal transformation through faith has reshaped how I see leadership. Before I can reform Congress, I must first reform myself. With God’s help, over the past few years, I have broken my addictions. I stopped drinking regularly, quit watching mindless TV, and let go of my biggest addiction: fantasy football. This doesn’t mean I don’t watch TV, drink, or watch football; it means I no longer let them control me. I no longer seek them at the end of a long day. In fact, I rarely think about them. They are no longer distracting me from being a good father, husband, or leader.

My ability to fall into habit—what once fed my addictions—has become a strength now that it’s directed outward instead of inward. I didn’t just give things up; I replaced them with purpose. Instead of drinking daily, I read the bible daily, and I give the time I spent on TV and Football to my wife, children, and employees. I was never a terrible drunk or an absent father and husband, but I wasn’t as much as I could be. By releasing myself from addiction, I can do more, be present more often, help others grow, and not just myself.

While working on the plan for No Cap Fund, I have spent a lot of time reading the gospels and Paul’s letters. I particularly relate to Paul (formerly Saul) as someone who thought he had everything figured out. I, like Saul, was close-minded and struggled to forgive; instead, I persecuted those I disagreed with.

The Gospels tell the story of Jesus, the son of God. He comes to teach us about forgiveness and purpose. He shows us that some have lost their way; instead of loving each other and serving God, they love themselves and serve the temple establishment. He tells us that to serve God, we must serve others.

In Paul’s letters, he reminds us that it is not ritual that brings us to God but acceptance of God’s invitation: a willingness to obey and understand, a purpose to serve and love, and to follow His Son. No person can regulate God’s love; it’s in all of us to accept His Word and follow his plan. Jesus did not judge us for walking astray; he offered us a way to forgiveness. He taught us we have the power to change. He gave us the power to stand up for what we believe in, and that we only need faith in Him to do so.

The teachings of Jesus are just as relevant today as they were when He walked the earth. Just as I’ve learned to redirect my focus from self to service, our leaders must do the same. Our government and media are more focused on themselves than they are on serving others.

When we turn on the TV or open social media, it’s likely the personality on the screen is talking about someone inside their sphere, arguing over who is right on policy or positions. One pundit or politician is typically attacking another. Often, the attacks are personal and stray from the actual policy that would help mend the divide.

It’s been going on so long that Americans have lost faith that anything can change. When I started knocking on doors back in 2021, the average person was quite knowledgeable about the problems we faced. They understood Congress was the branch failing us, but they said it wouldn’t get better, that it would take a miracle for change to happen.

But that is a lie. Jesus already taught us how to overcome this problem. He gave us the power to see miracles through forgiveness, purpose, service, and faith. We are not powerless. We are not stuck. We just have to remember what we were taught and live it.

Peace & Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

Just wanted to share some things with you. I was on the We Made This Political Podcast with Lauren Hall and Lura Forcum. Lauren and Lura are building bridges, bringing together reformers and those who are politically homeless. I had a great conversation with them, talking about No Cap Fund and Politics and Parenting. You can listen below. Be sure to follow Lauren and Lura on Substack by clicking the link above.

We Made This Political Podcast

Ep. 19: Jeff Mayhugh on Representation and Who is in the Room

Expanding Representation: A Conversation with Jeff Mayhugh…

Listen now

7 months ago · Lauren Hall and Lura Forcum

I was also a guest on the Conservative Historian Podcast with my friend AD Tippett, discussing the history of representation in America. AD is one of my favorite people to speak with. We could have gone on for days about history. The conversation was just a blast. You can listen below. Be sure to follow AD on Substack by clicking the link above.

Additionally, I was published in The Vital Center Magazine’s fall issue. My piece is called ‘The New Buzzword In America: Representation.’ Read it by clicking the link.

Last night on The Representation Station, we welcomed Dustin Wahl from Fix Our House to the show. We had a great conversation about Congress, why it’s broken, and how we can fix it. Also, Jonah Goldberg shared it on X! That’s pretty cool. We are Live every Monday night at 8 PM EST. We stream on X, Facebook, and YouTube. Be sure to follow us on all our platforms by clicking this link. If you missed the Live Stream, it’s available to watch back on X and YouTube. I recommend watching it :)

Thank everyone for your support. It means the world to me. I will continue to work hard and strive to improve myself. You keep me honest.

Step One: Prioritize.

Prioritize the relationships and responsibilities in your life. Reflect on your life. Who are the people you don’t want to let down? And what do you need to get done? Write it down and order them.

For me, it’s God, my wife, my kids. After that, I have two businesses, with several employees and volunteers requiring my time: Hardhits and No Cap Fund. The order will change depending on the season. With my kids, for example, I adjust my approach based on where they are in their developmental stage. Sometimes kids need more attention than other times. When my twins were born, they were number one. Then it was my teenager, Gabriel, and then Oliver and Julia.

Through the years, it changes. The kids shuffle up and down the board, where my attention goes. And I try my best to give everyone my attention, but I make sure, depending on where my child is, that they receive my focus at that given time, when they need me most. I try to find somebody, like mom, aunts, uncles, Mawmaw, Geegee, to help fill the hole that I’m leaving when they are lower on the list.

Everyone’s list will be slightly different. For some, maybe it’s spouse, family, friends, then work. Or perhaps it’s spouse, friends, and then family. I do think, however, it’s important to put God at the top of any list.

And I know that not everybody shares the same beliefs, but what I would recommend is that you find something else, something that’s not for yourself. Maybe it’s volunteer work. Maybe it’s stoicism or another faith. The key here is that when you feed into the people and places you love most, they feed back into you.

Step Two: Build Structure.

The next step is to build strutcure. This is where scheduling and boundaries are particularly important, especially for leaders managing others’ lives.

Scheduling is important because it allows you to get more done, and it helps you communicate with others. Especially those you care about, letting them know where you’re going to be, and when you are going to be there. It ensures that you set proper boundaries between the things that you must do and the things that you want to do.

This is most commonly seen in work and family, where it’s essential to draw that line and make that distinction, so you can have quality time with your family and not just go through the motions.

If you’re a high school student trying to manage a challenging academic schedule, many after-school activities, and a social life, creating boundaries and a schedule ensures homework, chores, and personal care are done. Making it easier to have a full social life as well.

The great thing about building structure with boundaries and schedules is that once you get in motion and it becomes a habit, things flow more easily. No more having to try to reorganize your day every day. Now you have a constant flow.

The COVID lockdowns had a profoundly negative impact on many people because they blurred the lines between work and home, making it difficult to distinguish between the two. It also broke established boundaries and schedules. Many were left having to adjust on the fly to reestablish workable habits in their life.

Step Three: Create Space.

The third thing to do once you’ve prioritized the people and responsibilities in life and built a structure is to create a space for those people and for yourself to communicate and spend time together. A space to have difficult conversations and express your feelings of frustration, confusion, sadness, and happiness with the people you prioritize.

Ensure you’re creating a space where they can do the same for you. If you’re a leader, whether as a parent or a boss, this means creating a space where you can talk with your kids or employees, ensuring they know that they can come to you with anything.

Suppose you’re a kid or an employee. In that case, this means taking advantage of the opportunity when your parents or boss creates that space. Instead of shutting down and being frustrated in that moment, allow yourself the freedom to express whatever emotion you’re going through to your parent or boss, giving them the chance to help you through it.

Life can be a lot, and when you’re not the one in charge, you can’t always be in control of when those spaces are created for you. It’s essential to be adaptable and seize the opportunities when they arise. Because your parents or boss have more responsibilities, their schedules are busier, and they are often doing their best, but they are still just human, flawed, and imperfect.

But also, don’t be afraid to ask for space. Sometimes, the person leading you may not see your needs the same way. Maybe they are overwhelmed and have missed the signs. Speak up for yourself, ask for time, and be patient with them as they build it into their day.

As a parent, it’s important to create space for one-on-one time with your kids. This can be a lesson in cooking, playing catch, or just lounging around watching a movie. This builds a stronger bond and creates an opportunity for deeper conversations. Things that I have done include cooking with my twins, bonding over music with Gabe, reading with Julia, and running with Oliver before my hip issues.

If you’re a husband or wife, it’s essential to create a space where you can enjoy time with your better half, have fun, cook, laugh, and even work out. Do those monotonous chores of life that can feel like they weigh you down, and turn them into something that’s not so bad, that’s even enjoyable.

Also, create a space to share with your spouse when you’re not having a good day, and maybe you need to vent or seek advice. And it also means creating a space for intimacy. This doesn’t necessarily mean sex, but it does include physical intimacy like cuddling, maybe a foot or back rub. What’s most important here is that you see your partner and show them gratitude. Now, with many, this might lead to sex, but that’s not what’s important.

What’s important is letting your other half know that even though you’re doing a lot, and even though they might not feel like they are doing a great job. That you recognize and appreciate their effort. You still think they are awesome, still beautiful, and you couldn’t imagine doing life with anybody else. You're more than just roommates or a business partner. You and your spouse are partners in life, and that includes everything, challenges and successes, trials and tribulations, fun and happiness.

Most importantly, create a space for God. Go to church, join a Bible study, pray, and bring as many of the people you prioritize in your life into that space. Share it together and share that love.

By reflecting on what’s important and bringing order to your life. By prioritizing, building structure, boundaries, and schedules, you’ll create spaces for the most important people in your life to communicate essential information and express difficult feelings.

You’ll find, over time, as you build those good habits, the habits you want to have with the people you want in your life, the day-to-day challenges will become easier, and your relationships will grow stronger.

Peace & Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

I recently wrote about J.D. Vance and his missed opportunity for leadership (now published at The Vital Center), as well as how he perpetuates the permission structures that encourage political division and violence.

This week, Gavin Newsom was on The Colbert Show. He was attacking ICE and using fear as a motivator. He was, like Vance, perpetuating the permission structures for division and violence.

For many people, Gavin Newsom is somebody they feel can take on Trump and MAGA. He claims he’s “holding a mirror to MAGA” by trolling Trump on social media. But in doing so, he will reflect the worst of himself and his followers. Like Trump, he uses fear to rally his supporters and consolidate power.

When it comes to leadership, there is little to no difference between Donald Trump and Gavin Newsom. One may represent one set of political issues, and the other a different set of issues, but they both represent the same values of fear and division.

For those of us who have been against Donald Trump because of his behavior of division, there’s no way we can honestly follow Gavin Newsom without becoming the thing that we are against.

We’ve reached a point of division where reconciliation is difficult. Many in power now are not looking to compromise with one another. They don’t listen to understand; they listen to defend. They don’t lead, they attack. They will continue to paint the other side as the enemy and increasingly as evil. They will continue to use any means possible to bolster their power and gain control.

But I want to make something clear. They are not evil or the enemy. They reflect our choices. And if we want something different, we have to start making different choices.

As citizens, we can choose to pick a side and join them in calling our neighbors evil and casting them as the enemy. Or we can find new leaders and empower them to lead.

In times like these, we must look for the reformers. Those who study and research. Those who build coalitions, craft solutions, and those who aren’t afraid to sit down and have difficult conversations without hurling insults at each other.

We could sit idly by and watch. But the rights that we hold dear, the right to practice whatever religion we want, the right to due process, the right to speak freely. Those are all in jeopardy if we become a nation of one-party rule.

We don’t know who will win this battle for power. And whoever wins will restrict the other side’s rights. We’ve already seen it on both sides, prosecuting political enemies and silencing dissenters.

And we may think, “That won’t happen to us.” Maybe. But it might happen to our children, or our children’s children. It might happen to our neighbor, our brother, or our sister.

Ultimately, political power in a democracy starts with the individual. It’s our choices that will shape our future. We can choose to pick a side and fight. We can choose to sit idly by and watch, pretending we are powerless to stop it. Or we can choose a new path.

I’m a man of faith, and I spend a great deal of time with those who share my beliefs. And it seems that, because politics is so ugly right now, people would rather sit it out. However, our freedom of faith will be in jeopardy, regardless of who comes into power. One-party rulers are insecure. In a one-party state, no power above the party in control is allowed to exist, as that would threaten its authority. We may be able to worship, but the state would sit between us and God.

I’m reminded of an old joke I’ve heard many times, about a man who prays for God’s help but sits idly by and waits.

A massive hurricane hits a coastal town, and the floodwaters rise quickly.

A man climbs up onto his roof and prays: “God, please save me!”

A neighbor comes by in a rowboat and shouts, “Hop in, I’ll get you to safety!”

The man replies, “No, thank you. I prayed to God; He’ll save me.”

The waters rise higher. A rescue team arrives in a motorboat. “Sir, get in before it’s too late!”

The man again refuses: “No, thank you. God will save me.”

Finally, a helicopter hovers overhead, lowering a rope. The pilot yells, “Grab the rope, this is your last chance!”

The man waves them away: “No, God will save me!”

The waters keep rising, and the man drowns.

In heaven, he angrily asks God, “Lord, I prayed and prayed, why didn’t you save me?”

God replies: “I sent you a rowboat, a motorboat, and a helicopter. What more did you want?”

I’m also reminded of the Parable of the Three Servants from the book of Matthew. A master is going on a long journey. Before leaving, he entrusts his wealth to three servants: One servant receives five bags of silver, another receives two bags of silver, and the last receives one bag of silver.

The first two servants invest and double what they were given. But the third servant, out of fear, buries his silver in the ground and does nothing with it.

The message is that God expects us to look for him in each other and to use what we are given. God gave us free will. He gave us the power of choice. And he gave us a voice.

All hope is not lost. We are not powerless. We have a voice. We do not have to fight each other for control. There is a better path. There are ways we can resolve our differences civilly. However, we must speak up and take action. We must lift up and encourage others to lead a reform movement that will pull us out of this.

It won’t be one person who leads the way. No cult of personality can save us. We’re all human, flawed, and imperfect. What we need are many leaders spread across the country, working together in harmony.

God has not abandoned us. He has sent us those leaders, and they are patiently waiting for us to follow them. But, for that to happen, we must first choose who we want to be.

Do we want to be a partisan political pawn used for others’ power, an idle bystander cowering out of fear, or a citizen of a self-governing republic with rights who fulfills responsibilities?

This is a time for choosing, America. What will we do?

Peace & Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

Last week, J.D. Vance had a chance to lead, and he failed.

Vance and Kirk were friends, and Vance was the first guest host of the Charlie Kirk show. It was probably hard for Vance, as it has been for many Americans who admired Kirk. In the podcast, he went off on the radical liberals and the idea of calling for unity.

He says, “There is no unity with people who scream at children over their parents’ politics. There is no unity with someone who lies about what Charlie Kirk said in order to excuse his murder. There is no unity with someone who harasses an innocent family the day after the father of that family. And there is no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk’s assassin.”

He delivered this message with passion and vigor. You can hear the emotion in every word of every sentence. He also shared polls that pointed the finger at liberals. Saying they are more accepting of political violence than conservatives.

Vance may be right that it’s tough to unite with a group that celebrates any assassination. But that group is radical, and they exist on both sides. By focusing on the partisan effect, either because he’s so wrapped up in the loss of his friend that he can’t see clearly, or because he is caught up in the partisan war for power, he is missing an opportunity to lead.

What he should be doing is rallying together with liberals who are also mourning Kirk’s death and the implications on our country’s stability. He should be uniting the non-radical group together, but by pointing the finger and placing blame on liberals, he is pushing us away from each other.

Ben Shapiro appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher after the assassination. On the show, Shapiro discusses the permission structures in society that encourage radicals to act with political violence. Permission structures refer to the words, emotions, and behaviors our leaders use to describe their opponents.

What we need in this moment are leaders who understand their responsibilities. Understand that their words carry enormous power, and they reverberate throughout society. They should realize that society is in a fragile state, and there are people out there who hear the anger, frustration, and finger-pointing, and they take it as permission to act on their worst impulses.

The history of political violence in the United States is littered with men who were lost, radicalized, and acted on the permission structures of the time.

Charles Guiteau, Leon Czolgosz, and Lee Harvey Oswald were lost men who became radicalized during a period of American history marked by significant social and political divisions. They heard what they wanted to hear. They felt like they had permission to act.

The most glaring example of this is the assassination of James Garfield, captured in the book Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard. Charles Guiteau was arrested shortly after shooting President Garfield at a train station in 1881, saying, “a brave man, who is determined upon a desperate deed.”

Guiteau was a radicalized member of the Stalwart political faction. In his pocket was a note for General Sherman saying he was a Stalwart and that Garfield’s death was a political necessity. The leader of the Stalwarts, Roscoe Conkling, was in a fight with Garfield and his faction, the Half-Breads, “over the spoils of office.”

Garfield was charged in the press with an “unholy and corrupt compact.” Guiteau believed he was acting for his faction. He expected the troops to be sent to free him. He thought he was following the wishes of his leaders.

Chester A. Arthur, as Vice President, was a member of the Stalwart faction. When he became president after Garfield died, he felt guilty about Garfield’s murder because he felt complicit in the rhetoric.

Instead of pointing the partisan finger, Arthur used the tragedy as a moment to reflect on his role; in doing so, he separated himself from the contentious Conkling and governed in a less partisan way as President. Thus, lowering the political temperature.

What we need now are leaders who reflect on their actions instead of pointing fingers. Leaders who understand the responsibility of their power and seek to limit the number of permission structures created with their words and actions.

Leaders who understand that it is not they, but we.

Leaders must bring together the people who oppose political violence and find common ground. Leaders have a responsibility to lower the temperature with a calm and balanced demeanor.

These are the moments when our leaders must rise to the occasion and put partisanship behind them. On a high-profile stage, it was a moment for J.D. Vance to lead, and he missed it.

Peace & Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

Speaking with Pastor Steve has been life-changing for me. I love my dad, but he's not much of a talker, and I have an incredibly active mind. It's constantly processing new information, and I need an outlet. I need reflection, and I've always sought that in different areas, through different avenues in my life.

But as I took on this new and bigger challenge, I needed something more consistent, something more open. I first started looking for that in a mentor, someone who was in politics who could help take me under their wing, teach me the ropes, and be a sounding board.

I haven’t found that yet, but with William Floyd Counseling Center and Pastor Steve, I got something better. I have someone who listens to me and understands my strengths and weaknesses, not just because I share them with him, but also because he can see them. Somebody who knows me well enough that when I share about an argument with my wife, isn't afraid to challenge me and say, Did you say it to her like you said it to me?

And when I'm searching for answers, he always points me back to God, to the Bible, to scripture. Every week is a reminder of where I need to be, what I'm doing, who I am doing it for, and how I need to do it.

Like I mentioned, I've always had a very active mind. I recently wrote about how vivid and realistic my dreams were as a child. Another one of my nightmares came up while talking with Pastor Steve last week, and it got me thinking a little bit deeper about it.

Ever since I started this journey, I've always kind of known where I would end up. I've been hesitant. I've been willing to let it go if I could just find somebody to take it over for me. I've been reluctant not just because I don't want to do all the work, but also because I'm afraid.

I'm afraid that what happened to Charlie Kirk would happen to me. I'm afraid that what Charlie's family is going through is what my family would have to go through. And I don't want that.

One of the most frequent pieces of advice that I’ve received is that I should just get a microphone and go talk. People tell me that I am really good at that. And a big reason that I don't is because I'm afraid.

Now, there are other reasons. I think that what I need to do is different. And I think that I'm the only person who really knows the best way because I'm the main driver of this journey. And I have to trust the work that I put in and the path that’s laid in front of me. But there is a part of me that's just afraid because I have those nightmares that are vivid and realistic, and they feel real.

That's why I talk to Pastor Steve, so I can stay focused on the Word of God and overcome my fears. So I can be the best version of myself.

It's funny, although we don’t talk much, my dad and I are a lot alike in the way that we think and act. But we separated in many ways because I was afraid. He worked with dangerous tools, and I was afraid of what those tools would do. That power to remove your hand, and it's never coming back, frightened me.

I would have those nightmares and visions. I could have them in the moment, splitting wood, just pausing, having that thought of what could happen flash through my mind. And because of that, I didn’t want to be around him when he was working with those tools. And I didn’t want to work with him because of those tools. I allowed my fear to control me.

On the Representation Station last week, we talked a little bit about Charlie Kirk with our guest, Sara Wolk. She mentioned how difficult it is to get on stage and speak, how brave it is to be able to do that.

Over the past week, I have seen so many videos of Kirk debating people. He’s thoughtful, engaging, yet unwavering in his beliefs. Those are not easy things to be.

What Kirk did is even braver because the more you study politics and history. The more you see the good and bad in the world. The easier it becomes to believe the worst in others. The easier it becomes to succumb to the fear, and I can't help but admire how brave it was for him to take the microphone and have the debate.

Because what he was doing was what we should all aspire to do. Solve our problems with our words. Take the time to understand what we're talking about and learn how to articulate it in a way that is digestible and understood by somebody else.

We should reflect on him and what he did, how important it was. How incredibly brave it was, and how there are people like me who wish we had the courage of people like Charlie Kirk.

While I don't want to take the microphone and speak in front of people the way that he did, it will be part of what I do at some point. I will be able to do it because of people like Pastor Steve, who point back to God week after week.

I will be able to do it because people like Charlie Kirk have already done the hard work. I will be able to do it because I have faith in the support around me. I have faith in my ability to work, discern, and act.

I have faith in God.

Peace & Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

A tale of two factions

Politics tends to have two primary factions: Conservatives and Progressives.

Conservatives respect tradition, enforce the rule of law, and tend to like things the way they are, preferring gradual change over sweeping reforms. Progressives seek justice, expand liberty, and tend to want to make immediate change.

This goes all the way back to ancient Greece. We can look at the Spartans and their conservative aristocratic and oligarchical government, and we can look at the Athenians and their revolutionary democracy. One society resisted change, one society embraced it. Both societies were successful. Both societies had their strengths and flaws. Sparta’s rigidity ensured order but stifled adaptability; Athens’ openness fostered innovation but also instability.

That's why, the American Republic, by extending the sphere of power, invited both the anti-federalists and federalists into the sphere. By allowing both conservatives and progressives to compete, debate their ideas, and make necessary progress, the virtue of humanity can rise.

A politician will typically fall into a conservative or progressive category. They either want to make small incremental change, or they want to hit a home run. They may have different interests. They may be on different sides of the political aisle.

For example, there are progressive Republicans and Democrats. Progressive Republicans, often called populist Republicans, emphasize populism and nationalism, seeking to reform institutions and strengthen national identity. Progressive Democrats often emphasize economic and social reforms, with some leaning toward democratic socialism. Both approaches tend to expand the government’s role, though in different ways.

Current alignment around reform.

Right now, some intellectuals from the left and right want sweeping reforms leading to a new Constitution. And there are conservatives on both sides who tend to like things kind of the way they are. They know there are problems, but they understand the consequences of dramatic change.

We face the greatest representation crisis in over a century. Those who follow Politics and Parenting know the House has been capped at 435 since 1929. Change is not optional—it’s part of life and it’s time. The question is whether we will guide it or let it guide us.

Now is a time for conservatives and progressives to put aside their interests. Come together and manage the change as effectively as possible to ensure America's stability, everyone's stability, remains intact. Ultimately, something like this will make us stronger.

Freedom and Responsibility

Freedom is a topic frequently discussed in politics to drive voter engagement. But what exactly is freedom? There are two types of freedom: freedom of responsibility and freedom from responsibility. Some people want the freedom to decide, to have a voice, to participate. Some people want the freedom to opt out.

But most Americans carry responsibility daily. They're well-educated and enjoy getting along with their neighbors, which builds stronger communities. And a lot of what turns everyday Americans away from politics is the fight and the stigma. Not the unwillingness to participate, but the way politicians make participation difficult with their behavior.

Time to Reflect

Conservatives and progressives are like oil and vinegar; if you try to put them together, they separate. However, if you blend the right amount, you get a delicious dressing.

So, you have to ask yourself, what do you want? Do you want to work together with your fellow man? If change is inevitable, do you want to build on the foundation that we have, or do you want to rip it apart and start over?

Do you want the change to happen slowly, over time, so you're comfortable, or all at once? Do you want to dip your toe in the water? Or jump in the deep end, even though you might not be ready to swim.

And then you have to ask yourself, what type of freedom do you want? Do you want the freedom to decide, to have a voice, to participate? Or do you want the freedom to opt out?

And if you want to have a voice, go to www.why435.org and sign our declaration for representation.

Peace, Love, and Representation,

Jeff Mayhugh

When I was a young boy, I would go with my dad to work, sometimes during the summer, or sometimes if I was out of school for other reasons. He was a heavy equipment mechanic. I remember when he welded his wedding ring to his finger, and I remember a story about how a co-worker had injured himself, and my dad, who was queasy at the sight of blood, still managed to help him out and get him to the hospital.

All those things created fear inside of me, and that fear manifested itself into nightmares. I would have nightmares about my dad getting injured or killed at work. It would keep me up at night. I remember waking up and feeling like the events had really happened. They felt real. One time, my mom came into my room late at night, and I didn't believe her. I thought my dad was dead, and she had to go get him before I would calm down.

Fast forward to today, I recently had one of those realistic, vivid dreams that felt real, which was also a little bit of a nightmare.

All of my friends were over. My friends from my pre-political life, as well as some of my friends from my new political life. People were there that I don't even really know in person, but I've just met online. Everybody was over at my house, but it was a combination of my house and my parents' house. Everybody decided to sleep over, but we didn't have enough beds, pillows, or anything. So, somehow we ended up at this resort, where we were having a great time having dinner, drinks, and playing corn hole and poker.

It felt great to be with all the people I care about and love. At one point, a friend I hadn't seen in a long time asked me about my hip. He commented that it must really suck not to be able to work out, run, or be active. I could feel myself getting emotional. So I left the room.

I didn't want to ruin the experience. I didn't want to think about anything negative. I just wanted everyone to enjoy the moment. But when I left, I couldn't find my way back.

I was searching all night through a massive resort with all these different rooms. I just stepped outside for a second, but when I opened the door back up, it was a different place—a different room.

Every time I opened up another door and it wasn't the right one, it hurt. And I had that same feeling again and again, room after room. But I kept searching all night. Eventually, I woke up and thought, “God, that was just awful.”

It felt real, but I knew it wasn't, clearly.

As I reflect on my dream, like the dreams I had about my dad and his accidents at work, it was rooted in reality. Rooted in emotions, I am filtering through. That's why they felt so real to me.

Ever since I started this political journey, I have been split. Do I stay or do I go? Ultimately, I haven’t really wanted to go because changing my focus would mean separating myself from many people I care about.

I've also struggled to build a new group of people. I think I've finally reached a point in my life where I've formed a new group of people, and I miss my old group. Ultimately, I believe that to be successful, I need to bring those two groups of people together, put them in the same room, and talk about representation.

That's the idea behind the Representation Summit we are planning at No Cap, and I have been vocal with those around me about feeling like I'm not doing enough. I work a lot and I'm always busy, but I don’t feel like I am doing the hard things I need to do to be successful.

But is that feeling real? Or is that just a fear?

And my hip, being what it is, has caused me significant pain. It's made it harder for me. It's also made me more emotional in many ways. And I'm already an emotional guy. I used to release a lot of my emotions by working out and going for a run. And now I can't.

I’m sad about it, angry about it, and I'm afraid, I worry, that I walked out of the room, and I won't be able to get back. I'm afraid that not only am I going to fail to do the things that I need to do. But I'm also going to lose the people that I care about most.

I know I have a lot of support out there. And I am trying to do the really hard things, the things that I don't want to do. I am working on it every day. I know that I am doing the right things, and I will get there. And I know that my fears are just impatience.

I started doing the hard things several years ago now. While it may have taken me longer to get where I wanted to go, to learn the things that I needed to learn, I know that I've learned them, and I know that while my hip is an impediment, it can't and hasn't stopped me because I have people in my life who have helped me overcome the unexpected challenge.

It's not easy to persevere through something that's challenging, something that you don't enjoy doing. For some people, that might be eating their broccoli. For others, it might be making a phone call. That thing that brings you to your weakest point, where you feel out of your depth or uncomfortable.

For me, that thing is asking for money. To tie everything together in the dream, I think ultimately, for me to get my new group and my old group together, I have to raise the money for the summit.

I've invested a lot of time in figuring out how to fundraise, and I'm confident I can make it happen. I’ve reached out for help, and I will continue to do so. But it’s a lot of work, and honestly, I am exhausted from learning new things. The fear I feel is the patience required to learn, along with the worry that I might fail. But it’s not real, it’s just another impediment in my way. And I know it will happen in God’s time, not mine.

Peace & Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

I went to Vita Nova to get a coffee and read. I ended up sitting in my car, taking a little nap, because I was exhausted from the grind. I got myself together, went inside, ordered my drink, and sat down to wait. While I was waiting, I opened X and saw the news. Charlie Kirk had been shot. At first, I wasn't sure if it was real, or if it was, I wasn't sure how severe it was, but it felt like a gut punch.

I sat there and I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled, looking for some piece of information to make things better. But the more I scrolled, the more I saw it wasn't going to get better. I started to see videos, and eventually, I just closed my phone and said a prayer.

I left, went and picked up Julia, and drove home. When I got home, I opened up X and started to scroll again. At some point, the close-up video of Charlie was making the rounds, and I saw it. After seeing it, I realized that things weren't going to end well.

I tried to put it out of my mind for a minute. I prayed again, I got out my laptop, and I did a little work, just hoping that the separation would somehow change the course of events.

I got the twins off the bus, came back home, helped them with homework, and then sat down on the couch. By that point, the reports were out. Charlie had passed. The girls could tell I was upset. I was doing my best to hide it. I always feel honesty is the best policy, and so when they asked questions, I gave them answers.

They said, What's wrong? I said, Something terrible has happened, somebody was shot. They asked me if I knew him. I said yes, but not personally. They asked me if he was assassinated. I said, Yes.

They asked me if he had a family. I said he had a wife and kids (I started to cry a little), and they'll never see their dad again. They came over and they just gave me a big hug. They held on tight.

I just sat there, frustrated, angry, and sad.

The kids went to play. I sat there filled with pain and sadness, struggling to make sense of the senselessness. I watched social media point fingers in all different directions. Which just made me sadder.

I know that... In times like these, our instinct may lead us to anger and seek revenge. But I think it's important that we resist that urge. We must embrace love, grace, and forgiveness. I know it hurts, but the best thing that we can do is pray. Pray for his wife and his children.

The individual who did this should be held accountable. We also need to look in the mirror and realize that THEY didn't do anything. WE did this. We all hold a little accountability for the current situation that we're living through.

We are all imperfect. We've all voiced our anger at times when we should have given grace. We’ve all yelled when we should have listened.

Over the last several years, there have been many episodes of political violence on both the right and the left. There was a plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer. The Capitol was stormed. Nancy Pelosi’s Husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked at his home. President Trump was shot in the ear in Butler. Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot. United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed.

And now, the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

And yet we continue to yell and scream at each other. Every time we say the other side isn’t doing enough, we are dismissing and deflecting. Every time we say it was THEM instead of WE, we are complicit, just a little, in raising the temperature of a highly polarized and toxic political culture where political violence is on the rise.

But another father is gone, and more kids will grow up with the pain and emptiness of loss. We must do better.

It's easy to look at situations like this and think that things are falling apart or unraveling, and we are powerless to stop it. But we have more power than we think. We can start by taking accountability for ourselves. Provide grace, understanding, and forgiveness. Stop pointing fingers and lend a hand. Stop yelling and listen. Stop blaming and pray.

We have power in our choices, our words, our tone, and our actions. Even though it's hard, we can set aside our differences and love one another. We can repair our political culture to be quieter, more civil, respectful, and understanding, centered on love and not hate. United for a purpose, and not divided for gain.

Like Thomas Jefferson said, “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.” We are all Americans. Let’s start acting like it.

Peace and Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

There isn’t much in this special episode hosted by my wife, Vanessa, about the traditional politics of Washington; however, the politics of business and marriage are front and center. She shares her story of leaving her career at a midsize corporation to join me and run Hardhits, a small community branding company that prints custom apparel.

She asks me the pressing questions like Why did you start Hardhits? And what is it like working with your wife?

The episode is longer than normal because there is no one in the world I enjoy talking with more than my wife, and so we just kept going. It was a ton of fun to shoot. We discuss the importance of communication in both business and personal relationships, the challenges and rewards of running a small business, and the role of youth sports in community building and personal development. We also discuss the value of teamwork and leadership on business success and personal growth.

If you run a small business, have a family, work with your spouse, or want to run a small business, you don’t want to miss this episode!

If you need custom apparel, contact Vanessa at info@hardhits.net or visit our website www.hardhits.net.

Peace and Love,

Jeff Mayhugh

Do you sometimes struggle to pray? I know I do. It's not like I don't talk to God. I talk to him all the time. I pray alone, but when it comes to praying in a group, I always seem to struggle.

I get nervous, so many thoughts start racing through my mind, and I just can't get them out. Sometimes, I feel paralyzed, which is strange because I kind of talk for a living. I talk on Podcasts, and I get up on stage and read poetry. I am pretty good at talking in front of a group, but praying is different.

It's a level of vulnerability that can be difficult. Praying with others is something that I've been trying to focus on in my faith recently, and it's been tough.

Saturday, Vanessa threw me a 40th birthday party with some friends. She outdid herself as usual. The theme was vintage 1985. She got pictures of me as a kid imprinted on cups, and she handmade little party bags for all the guests. Inside was candy, Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape, and Kodak Cameras.

We all took pictures the old-fashioned way, and we're going to have the film developed later. We had to explain to our kids why they couldn’t see the picture immediately. It was great to see some of the most important people in my life. It was a really special night.

I wanted to use that opportunity to pray with them. So much is going on in each of our lives. I thought we should take a moment and talk to God together.

So I did what I do whenever I plan to speak. I thought about it. I thought about praying in front of everybody all day long. I must have said the prayer in my head a thousand times. I made a list of all the people I wanted to pray for, and why I was praying for them. And I made a list of why I was grateful for all the great things that God has done for me and my family.

And I've got to say, it was probably my most successful prayer. I still stumbled. I still felt paralyzed at times. And I still didn't get everything off the list. But from the way I looked at it, it was a win. Because I know that I'll get better, and that just means I'll build a stronger relationship with God.

I thought, Why not share this story? I'm sure others out there might be struggling with the same thing. And I don't know why we sometimes fail to see the obvious in front of us. I know I did. How did I not come up with it earlier? Just write it down, Jeff. It's weird because, you know, but you don’t know.

I had to think about it a different way. When I talk with God, I am just talking. Never really caring which words I say or how many I say. But when I am speaking in front of others, I want to say it in a way that is digestible so it can be heard by all of us.

If you're struggling to pray and often find yourself talking to God, but also wanting to talk to Him with your friends and family, don't be afraid to plan. Don't be afraid to prepare. Think about it. What do you want to say? How do you want to say it? Make a list. Carry it around with you. When you hear about things you want to pray about, write them down. And then when it comes time to pray, they'll already be organized in your head. You won’t have to think about it.

Sometimes I think we forget how much power we have, because we just kind of expect things to be a certain way. But the way is God. And no matter how many times we learn that, we seem to forget and have to learn it again.

Peace & Love,

Jeff Mayhugh