Recently I was given an opportunity to write an article for Newsweek. The day felt like a whirlwind, but when it was over, I was published and I couldn't believe it. The powers who gave me the opportunity were Matt Lewis and Batya Ungar-Sargon, I use the word power because I want my audience to realize that is how the world works, for one power to grow, another has to lift them up or allow them space. Power tends to get a bad rap because it’s sought after by the more nefarious among us, but in reality each of us is power, we each have a voice and thought and we can use it how we see fit. It’s the beauty of life and our constitution that guarantees our right to speak. I am extremely grateful to those who elevated my voice in this moment of importance in our history.
I met Matt Lewis several years ago through twitter, I read his book Too Dumb to Fail: How the GOP Betrayed the Reagan Revolution to Win Elections. I was in my early thirties with a growing family and small business which led me to start focusing more on politics. I didn’t care for the salesmanship of it all, so when Donald Trump arrived on the scene my walls went up. Which is what attracted me to Matt’s book. He wrote honestly and insightfully about a moment from a perspective that few else was were paying attention to at the time, and he did it without compromising his conservative principals or morals. When I read his book it felt like he was speaking directly to me. I wanted conservative policies and ideas so my family could have more opportunity, and the moment was giving me a bunch of distractions. Except for Matt.
During this period of my life I was trying to become a better person. I was the type of person who was quick to fill out a negative comment card and never leave a positive one. I was also the employee who was frustrated at never receiving positive comments. I first recognized this behavior in my children and realized it was my responsibility to change it. I figured leading by example was the first step. This change in myself led to me sending a Direct Message on twitter to Matt complimenting his book. I was shocked to get a reply. I was listening to his podcast and subscribed to his Daily Beast article. When I first met Matt I was a tempered fanboy, sending pictures and texts to my friends and family sharing my exuberance. Over the years I have gotten to know Matt well and consider him a friend. The thing that drew me to Matt was how normal he was. Anytime we get together we connected over life and fatherhood.
A lot has changed since Matt and I met. Donald Trump became President, lost the Presidency in the most contested Presidential election since 1877, and as a result we had the most violent attack on Washington, since the British torched the White House during the war of 1812. My personal journey of growth led me to read more, and that combined with the lack of leadership in our country led me to run for office this year in the VA-10 republican primary. When Matt and I first met I was a small business owner who seeking to learn, now I am a community political figure who is seeking to teach.
Learning to read gave me the guidance and patience to be a better person, it also taught me the importance of writing. Most highly successful people have one common trait, and that is that they read, people like Elon Musk, John Adams, and Abraham Lincoln. Most great leaders also wrote, either personally or professionally, people like Andrew Carnegie, James Madison and Teddy Roosevelt. When you read a lot, 60-80 books a year, it fills the mind with information and emotion. When the brain and heart gets full it needs an outlet. Writing is the outlet the is most adept to helping a person through this experience. It helps one organize complex ideas and express them in a concise manor. My mind is often disorganized, and my heart overflowing, I start stories in the middle and ramble about minor details, but now that I was looking to lead, I understood it was my responsibility to learn how to better express myself.
I wrote my first article for Politics and Parenting in December of 2021, I read so much by that point my pen was a fountain overflowing on the page. Most of what I wrote back then was garbage. I would send drafts to Matt and he was encouraging and thoughtful when giving feedback. He would first focus me on what I was doing well and then point to the areas I needed to work on. Without his and others (Stephen Kent author of How the Force Can Fix the World: Lessons on Life, Liberty, and Happiness from a Galaxy Far, Far Away and This is the Way Substack) encouragement and guidance it’s possible I wouldn’t have kept writing. If reading is what taught me how to be a better person, writing is what taught me how to teach it to others. Reading enhanced my listening skills and writing enhanced my ability to express myself in the different ways my children and wife needed, this helped me better lead my family.
On Tuesday Matt sent me a text to check my email, in my inbox was an introduction to Batya Ungar-Sargon who is the editor for Newsweek. She was looking for an article on George Santos and Matt recommended me. I called Matt and asked advice on how to proceed. Matt knows me well and understands my strengths and weaknesses. He knows my passion is often unbridled so he guided me to keep focused on the purpose of the article and not to stray into my personal passions of uncapping the house and repealing citizens united. There wouldn't be enough space in 800 words to make all the points I wanted to make and tie them together with Santos for the audience. He also understands I struggle with organizing my pieces sometimes, and reminded me how to lay the article out. I emailed Batya back and had until 4 PM to complete the article.
I was so stressed about the idea of writing on a deadline that I immediately packed up my things and left the office and headed to the new Hilton in Haymarket. I sat down, ordered a vanilla latte, brewed with coffee beans from Haymarket Coffee Company, and began to read up on George Santos, making sure there wasn’t anything new happening I should include. Once I familiarized myself with his story I tried to craft it into mine. My hands were tense, my typing was slow, but my mind was at hyper speed. I couldn’t keep up with the thoughts racing around. Everything that made it to the page was incomplete and without context. I was getting frustrated at myself, and the doubt was creeping in, I can’t remember now what my early drafts said but, I know they read failure. I was doing exactly what Matt warned me about, I was trying to fit too much into a small space. If I’m being honest I am a little jaded at the system and how much it doesn’t care about families like mine, I have so much to say and never feel like I have the opportunity or time to say it to anyone who has power. This frustration is hard to control when I am given an opportunity and it comes out on the page as a list of failures of others and not a concise story meant to share a different perspective and inspire change.
After an hour I deleted everything on the page, took a deep breath and talked to myself at the bar like a crazy person. “Remember what Matt said, introduce the story then tell your story and make personal, and then bring it back together, you got this buddy!” I’m not sure if he said “you got this buddy” or not, but he’s said it to me so many times over the years that I still hear it in my head when I think of him. Matt and Batya didn’t just give me this opportunity willy nilly they wanted me to succeed and they set me up with all the tools to do so. I just needed to listen to them and believe in myself. The topic was perfect for me to write about and after I reflected, the story came naturally.
By 3 PM I was emailing my piece to friends for feedback, after some changes I sent it in to Batya around 4 PM. I was nervous, but by 5 PM it was published. It was so strange for me, before I met Matt I barely wrote anything over a paragraph, most of the time at work I answered emails with a phone call to avoid writing. Since starting Politics and Parenting a year ago I have written over 50 articles and become a published author. I have learned so much about myself and community. Over the years people like Matt and Batya have given me hope and opportunity in a complex unforgiving world.
The next morning I sat in my office reflecting on the day before. I wanted to know more about the person who gave me this opportunity and noticed she had written a book, Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy, so I ordered it.
The book caught my attention even before I read the first page, the book jacket is designed with the past in mind, newspaper black and white text and a burn hole showing the colorful decay of modern journalism underneath on the book itself. Once I opened the pages I found myself once again feeling like the author was speaking directly to me. Passion hangs on her every word as she explains the growing class divide that the media is ignoring for more profitable stories like racism.
In chapter one she shares the stories of Benjamin Day and Joseph Pulitzer and how they sparked and carried out a populist movement that brought news, and in return, power to the people. In chapter two she shares the story of Henry Raymond and Adolph Ochs and how they countered the populist movement and returned power back to the wealthy elites.
Through the rest of her book she details how the media has overwhelmingly catered to a wealthy elite class who is out of touch with working class America. Instead of dealing with the issues of class and income inequality, the media focused on racism. The rise of technology including the internet and social media democratized the media landscape, but it also created information bubbles that wealthy elites used to target their readers. Technology companies tracked customers clicks and movements over the internet and media companies like the New York Times and Vox used that information to sell emotion rather than news. What was once a function of accountability and responsibility was shifted to one of clicks and profit. Technology and advertising has shaped a generation of people to observe others rather than listening to them. This leads to assuming rather than communicating which leads to ruling rather than governing.
In the epilogue Batya reminds us the best way to handle the broken media landscape is to not let them control our emotions, and for us to spend time listening to those we disagree.
Media and News are not the only industry that has a class divide problem, it’s all over our economic landscape. The rising cost of education and meaningless job requirements to have a college degree has driven up the cost of everything including opportunity. Ideas like free college and open borders are not serious and miss the point, the only thing America should give its people is safety and opportunity. If our public officials are doing their job they wouldn’t need to give us anything more.
After reading her book I feel like I know Batya a little. She is passionate and thoughtful. She is probably frustrated working inside a broken system, but she is using her power to give those outside of the system a voice because she understands how hard it is for regular Americans to be heard. If regular Americans what a voice in their country they should consider supporting people like Batya and Matt, a good place to start would be by buying their books. Both great reads. We need to make thoughtful news profitable again.
As I finish up my first article of 2023 I want to take a minute and say thank you. Thank you to my readers. Thank you to my wife and family who have supported and forgiven me over the years. Thank you to my Community, both digital and real. Thank you to John Beatty, Katie Beatty and Vanessa for joining me on Politics and Parenting. Thank you to my Hardhits staff who’s hard work and efficiency allows me the flexibility to do this. Thank you to all the strangers at coffee shops and bars for the great conversations. Thank you to John, Craig, Phil, and Daniel for joining the Madisonian Republican leadership team. Thank you to Matt and Stephen for teaching me how to write. Thank you to Batya for the opportunity to be heard.
Thank you for this great nation I live in, even with a broken system, it still provides more opportunities than anywhere else in the world, because at the end of the day, the system is still run by people and people want to be and do good. All we do need to do to fix the system is listen to each other and give the people who want to do good the opportunity. Let’s make 2023 about hope and opportunity.
Peace & Love.