Unscripted: The State of Play in American Politics

For months now, I've struggled to carve out time and get back into writing. It's been a slog of a few months. Like others in my field, I've been helping folks navigate an...interesting...time in American politics.

Since my last post, we've seen campaign shakeups that have thrown the political class into a tizzy. Global conflicts and local disasters have dominated the news. Right here in Ohio, a rare drought has thrown us into reaction mode. And all of that while we patiently wait out the passing of the next four weeks to Election Day.

Though I haven't been hitting the keyboard, I have been in the thick of some of my favorite parts of the work.

Today, to break the seal of sorts, I'm sharing a recent interview I conducted with Ohio's Country Journal, a local media outlet focused on the agriculture sector.

These are probably not the issues you're used to hearing about. Just 5 years ago I wasn't used to talking about them either - despite agriculture's unfathomably large impact on our daily lives. While I don't typically share the work I conduct in my 9-5 here, today I'm making an exception for a reason: we all need to hear about these issues more often.

Over the next few weeks, our politics will be driven by wedge issues - the issues designed to separate us by the smallest of margins and drive us into camps of predictable political action. But those aren't the issues that really define us as Americans.

We are at our best when we find ways to work together. We are at our best when we're tackling common challenges. We are at our best when compromise isn't treated like a dirty word. We are at our best when regular folks show up to get into a little bit of good trouble. And we are at our best when we ignore the wedge issues.

Today, I want to share some of those bigger, more unifying issues with you. And the best way I know how is to ask you to spend a little bit of time with the podcast episode linked below. I bookend the episode with longer segments. In the opening segment we get into some of the political landscape I'm seeing in Washington these days. In the latter segment, I get...well...a little bit spicier. (That portion starts at the 32:35 minute marker.)

Give it a listen and let me know what you think with a comment on this post or by sending a note to [email protected]!