Thanks for a Great 2022 - Plans In Store for This Blog in 2023
New Years resolutions are a joke, but long- and short-term planning for a the coming year and beyond is good discipline. And a poll!
As a grizzled campaign veteran, I found weird (masochistic?) joy in drafting campaign plans for candidates. “Everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the mouth,” legendary heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson famously said. That’s true of campaigns, too.
But while plans are often useless, planning is essential. “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable,” WWII Allied Commander and President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said.
So, on this New Year, I have three objectives with this post:
First, thank you for your patronage, interest, and engagement.
Second, share some insights on how these blog posts come together, including the news sources I rely heavily on. And,
Third, outline a couple of objectives for the new year and seek your input.
As always, suggestions and input are welcome. A poll is linked below (a cool Substack feature) to make that easy for you.
Why this blog?
I retired from full-time employment in 2018 after 22+ years in the food industry - over 16 with a famous New Jersey-based food company. They had fallen into a rough patch and made the proverbial offer I could not refuse to retire at age 62. They wanted to shrink middle management and sold off nearly a quarter of the company to pay down debt. Aside an immediate goal to relocate from our Pennsylvania home, I pined for the joys of my first profession 40 years ago, journalism. I missed writing.
Still, at a tender young age, I felt I had something to share and contribute - unique insights at the crash-prone intersection of current events, policy, politics, and history based on experience and expertise. That is on top of my continuing work with non-profit organizations, including the Stubblefield Institute for Civil Political Communication at West Virginia’s Shepherd University, the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, and others.
Conversely, I’ve grown increasingly chagrined and frustrated by the shallow media partisanship amidst evaporating standards that guided the early days of my career. Sadly, so much of our media does the government’s bidding, regurgitates official narratives, seeks to be first at the expense of getting it right, and censors or cancels anyone who dares veer off from groupthink. Civic education, especially about our founding, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights, has become practically extinct outside of religious and a smattering of private schools. Public schools and universities increasingly resemble indoctrination centers.
I’ve had some exciting experiences and privileges bestowed upon me that I wish to share, especially from my work on more than 35 US House and Senate campaigns in 25 states over a couple of decades and my tenure as a congressional staffer and Senate official. As a witness to history up close and personal, I have tried presenting unique insights with a dose of civility and respect for others, especially my readers. Whether running a government affairs program at a Fortune 250 Company or writing for an audience, I’ve always sought to elevate the sophistication of my colleagues and readers to see things that aren’t being presented via the media, social, or otherwise. Not to indoctrinate but provoke constructively.
And you’ve rewarded me with solid subscriber growth over the past several months. Its been not only a modest success but fun and rewarding. And many of you have told me that you share my emailed posts widely with friends, family, and colleagues. I also share my posts across several social media outlets, including Facebook, Twitter, Truth Social, GETTR, and Parler. The non-partisan ones often find themselves on LinkedIn.
It is time now for the next phase.
How does this blog come together? I laughed the other day when an old friend and former food industry colleague commented on my first “Capitol Tour” post, noting a problem with one of my photos (he was right). He said my editors must not have caught it.
I am the sole writer, editor, and publisher of this blog, a staff of one. My “editor” is Grammarly Premium, a popular Ukraine-originated writing, and editing tool. It misses a few things, and I differ with many of their edits. I may investigate new editing tools that do a better job.
I do not edit my posts well. I never have. When I was editor of the Henryetta Daily Free-Lance in Oklahoma, with two editorial staff (myself included), I often received anonymous packages from a reader - obviously an English teacher - taking a red pen to my work. Ouch. Thank you for not doing that here. You could.
My day starts with several news aggregators. BonginoReport.com. Justthenews.com. John Ellis’s Political News Items (subscription). I glance at digital newspapers, including the Times of Israel, Telegraph of London, Wall Street Journal, and regional US newspapers, including the Daily Oklahoman (Gannett), Arizona Republic (also Gannett), the Dallas Morning News, and occasionally the Chicago Tribune. I’ll also peruse email newsletters from the Washington Examiner’s Byron York and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley’s prolific blog. I occasionally check what passes for journalism at the New York Times and Washington Post. Sometimes they surprise me. There are a few good writers there. Some bad ones, too.
No day is complete without a check of several great writers at National Review, The American Spectator, Spectator USA, Unherd.com, and a few others. That’s a lot, but I’m a fast reader who skims to get the main gist or find inspiration.
I also have podcast addictions, including Hugh Hewitt’s terrific morning radio show (by subscribing to thehughniverse.com, I get his show sans commercials. The former aide to President Nixon, former Reagan Administration official, Chapman University law professor, and prolific author is the best interviewer on the radio. He is also a friend. Other favorite podcasts include my friend Marc Thiessen’s “What the Hell is Going On,” with American Enterprise Institute colleague Danielle Pletka, “Newt’s World,” the Ben Domenech podcast via Fox News, and my friend and election lawyer Cleta Mitchell’s “Who’s Counting.”
Of course, several other terrific websites and Substack sites do great work and serve as a valuable resources. They include the Capitol Research Center (influencewatch.org). Ballotpedia.org is another great non-partisan resource. SCOTUSblog.com is invaluable for Supreme Court watchers.
My mornings are invested in perusing all these sites. The podcasts get heard in the afternoons, especially bike rides, walks, and trips to the gym. The writing then begins either late morning or late afternoon once the organization of a post is formed in my mind. I can write and schedule one to publish in about two hours, sometimes more, sometimes less. I usually schedule them to appear in your mailboxes at 5 a.m Eastern, Monday-Friday, with the occasional weekend post (readership drops on weekends, I’ve noticed).
So what’s in store for the New Year?
First, at the request of several readers, I’m investigating investing (modestly) into a podcast version of this blog for those who prefer an audio “on demand” medium. I will probably extemporaneously add things that were missed from my blog post, and limit them to 30 minutes. I hope to mix additional audio and bumper music once I get the right equipment. I hope to launch something in the first quarter of 2023. Substack provides a podcast feature that should make it easy. Should. The estimable Julianna Chauncey of Backpacker Radio has been an enormous resource.
Second, I plan to offer a subscription model for posts that analyze candidates and political races across the country. While I greatly respect my friends at the Cook Political Report, the Rothenburg Report, and others, I have found my analysis and prognosis often as valuable as theirs, if different. I do not have the resources they and others do to create analytics, nor do I plan to - I’m not reinventing the wheel. Still, I have the advantage of getting outside the beltway and personally knowing many of these congressional districts and states. I will rely less on polling and more on local expert experience and insights. I will likely launch that in the second or third quarters as the 2024 campaigns begin in earnest.
Some posts that dissect legislative strategy and insights on Capitol Hill may also fall behind the paywall, but we’ll see. Most will still be “free.” This has never been designed to produce revenue.
I’m also considering a slight name change from “Against the Grain” to “Against the Wind” since I haven’t focused as much on food policy as I originally planned. No, it’s not inspired by the famous Bob Seeger song, but I will confess to some inspiration from Senator Edward Kennedy’s famous 1980 speech (but not his policy prescriptions) by that title. Also, the superb journalist, John Kraushaar, has a terrific podcast named “Against the Grain,” and I’m sure he hasn’t noticed my blog. You can vote below on these and other things.
I’ll read every response and comment. One question deals with the length of my posts. They’re long, I admit. Do you like long-form posts, or would you prefer shorter ones that take 5 minutes or less to read? Some publications are interested in condensed versions of my posts, including my friend Frank Hill’s North State Journal (NC). They often read better.
My usual posts on policy, politics, history, occasional satire and current events will remain free.
Here’s the short nine-question poll. It will be up for three days. Thanks again, and Happy New Year.
Please add additional comments or email your suggestions privately to kellyjohnston@reagan.com.
Happy New Year!
I greatly enjoy reading your posts, both through FB and via email. You and a few others I have found through social media have a knack for putting thoughts already dwelling in my head into words far more eloquently than I could. Keep up the great work being a voice of reason who prefers the deep end to the kiddie pool.
You should also consider joining a speaker's bureau because of the many conferences held in the DCMetro and surrounding states. Your "Hidden history from an insiders tour" would be popular and non-partisan.