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With this influx of new people thanks to Substack and sharing, you might as well know where I'm coming from.

Thanks to sharing and social media, my audience is growing and ever-changing so I thought it was time for a reminder.

For a long time now, I’ve jokingly told people who wanted to know my political affiliation that I am “barely left of militia.” Of course, that implies that I believe politics exists on a left-right continuum, and as I get older and (presumably) wiser, I’ve found no such line exists.

Instead, I think of politics as a circle because if you run down to the line to the left you get socialism, fascism, communism, and a batch of other -isms that eventually lead to one person or entity having control over the rest. However, if you go to the right and bypass conservatism and libertarianism you find your way to anarchy, which sounds great except for the innate part of human nature that demands control and at that point the strong begin to lord over the weak to a point where the strongest people dominate - in other words, the same place you end up if you keep going left.

Hence, it’s a big circle and the sweet spot is that of being on the opposite side of the diameter where right and left end. So I’m not a centrist in the respect that I inhabit the space where Republican and Democrat meet, I’m a centrist where were have the intersection of maximizing liberty but protecting the political minorities since everyone is a minority on at least one issue.

Might have to bust out this shirt some more this summer.

Put another way, I’m looking for the space just before one’s fist hits another’s nose.

Also for a long time, I’ve kept a list of pet issues I judge political candidates on. Their importance has varied over the years, but the list has stayed consistent. If I were to have the perfect politician, here’s a thumbnail sketch of where they would stand on the issues in order of current importance to me, with least being first.

Education: Money should follow the child to whatever educational situation the parent deems best, whether public schools, charter schools, private schools, or homeschooling. This would allow competition and those entities which lag behind would improve or cease to exist.

Second Amendment: Does “shall not be infringed” ring a bell? Gun control is having good aim and a steady trigger finger.

Social Issues: I am pro-life, and believe abortion should only be considered when the life of the mother is at stake. In the cases of rape and incest, wouldn’t an abortion be destroying evidence? I also believe marriage is strictly between one man and one woman, but allow for the legalities of marriage for same-sex couples as a civil union.

Energy: I’ve written about this a lot lately, but suffice to say I like it reliable and cheap. For now and the foreseeable future that means fossil fuels, with room for nuclear power. Solar and wind can come along once storage capacity is developed so the electricity created can be released to the power grid with predictability rather than its irregular nature.

Foreign Policy: America first. But we should try to make as many “win-win” situations as we can. Having said that, though, we really don’t need to be the world’s policeman.

Trade and Job Creation: Fair trade as opposed to free trade, which has been a disaster for us because the rest of the world has taken advantage. Set up the conditions for creating jobs by lowering taxes and scrapping needless regulations.

My souvenir from the long-ago 9/12 rally. It was a good time to remind you all.

Taxation: I’d love to see us convert to a consumption-based tax in my lifetime, but that would also require us to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. In the meantime, we need to go to a flatter, less regressive income tax that’s simpler to implement and doesn’t need an accountant to do.

Immigration: The first order of business is dealing with the influx that Biden has let in and working to send them home rather than see them exploited by bad actors. We also need to increase border security.

Entitlements: I’m sure I have a minority view on this because people have become conditioned to these programs, but both Social Security and Medicare need to be sunsetted. In the interim, give seniors a choice on Social Security: at the age of 62 they can stay in the SS system or take the lump sum of their deductions plus employer contributions and opt out. (Unfortunately, the government seems to be the insurer of last resort for the elderly so Medicare is a harder nut to crack.)

Role of Government: Limited on the federal level, with states taking more responsibility and local governments picking up some slack, too. But most of the power should be placed back in the people’s hands, beginning with education. We have a Constitution - how about we follow it? And speaking of repealing amendments, the Seventeenth Amendment needs to go as well so we can elevate the importance of state elections.

Hmmmm…maybe I really am barely left of militia.

I have said that the purpose of my Substack is to turn that rocky, thorny, and trod-upon soil into ground receptive to the missionary’s seed. (Hence, the talent on loan from God I alluded to in my Monday Memory.) We are a nation that has been blessed by God with rich farmland, abundant resources, and (most importantly) the wisdom of our Founding Fathers to create a government that respected and trusted in the providence of God.

Unfortunately, as our nation has turned away from God, began to worship our worldly goods and idols, and believed we were on a higher plane than our Lord in such a manner that we think we can be whatever gender we wish and have no moral guardrails, we’ve began seeing those rocks, thorns, and trodden areas in the land we were blessed to inherit.

So I’m writing this to see just who is on my side in working to restore our greatness and, more importantly, our holiness and devotion to our Creator.

In looking at my most-read posts, I’ve found that, alas, much of that readership comes through social media. (Which makes sense because I have a modest e-mail list so far.) But if those who read here share this among their like-minded friends on and off Substack so I can get more subscribers, we can eventually create a community of believers to be the Davids against our governmental and societal Goliaths. They’re big and bad, but we have something powerful on our side as well.

I’ve always felt I was blessed by having readership, whether it’s because people read my initial blog and website, because they bought my books, because of a Rushalanche, or because of a post that struck a chord in my subscriber base and inspired them to share it - which is how my post on the outcry against the God Loves You Tour in Salisbury first took off. Regardless, I have always said that I don’t lose sleep over anything I write and stand behind it.

At this moment I feel like I’m back in my symbolic corner again.

But at least this time I know I have the makings of a great army, and this is my recruitment poster. Thanks for reading.