America Still Works

If all we had to judge the world by was what’s on social media, we'd have a world full of depression and anger...oh wait, that is exactly what we have.

It was probably after my long-winded explanation of why young men are listening to Nick Fuentes that I started to get bored with the conversations that our American political experience has been boiled down to. Who hates Tucker, who likes Israel, and who thinks Trump is compromised — it all just seems so boring and, more than anything, inconsequential to the eventual outcome from the course that America finds herself on. We are a very late-stage empire, and almost nothing is going to change that. Yelling about Lindsey Graham or Thomas Massie isn’t helping. It’s a giant distraction from what is inevitable: that the system, known as the American government, wants exactly what it has. That government is thrilled to muddle along, watching the people of the nation fight with each other over what podcaster said what, all the while grinding further and further into debt, war, and empire.

Over the course of the last two years, my favorite things to write about have been when I have seen a new small town in Wyoming, or found a great piece of music or art to admire. I don’t hate writing about politics. I actually think I am halfway decent at it. But in a nation of 350 million, let’s be honest, I am never going to get, or want, the platform that could move the needle of a very leviathan government.

One of the best things I have done over the last few years is do a podcast with a friend about fly fishing. No politics, just people doing what they do best. Rowing people down the river and celebrating the beauty of wherever it is they love to fish. We met all sorts of wonderful people who are doing incredible things in a beautiful sport. In that process, I saw a better side of America. I actually saw how this incredible land affords people the chance to live a dream out. Are they rich? No. Do they still have to battle a slew of unnecessary paperwork and an oppressive government that steals far too much of their hard work? YES! But they try anyway.

I also had an interesting thing happen the other day in algorithm land. I searched for jean makers in the United States, and within the day, my feed was filled with American manufacturers of clothing, and cotton growers in Alabama who supply cotton still to those textile workers. I learned about a boot maker in Milwaukee and a regenerative farmer from Wyoming. I saw that there are literally thousands of people still trying to make America work. I will tell you, as a person who has spent most of their career in the entrepreneurial space, that it is harder than anyone thinks it is, and it is unnecessarily so because of the rules and regulations that our country has put around all of that. But…and there is always a big but, it hasn’t stopped people from trying. So, after an afternoon with my fly fishing buddy lamenting about all of the regulations and taxes, we both said it’s time to stop this incessant complaining. The doom loop of X and news is easy to fall into, and whatever you fill your mind with is easy to be consumed by. If all I ever hear about America is that it doesn’t work, then that is what I will live out. Frankly, that seems like a waste. I still believe that, just like an Anakin Skywalker who was buried underneath a machine of the Galactic Empire, America still has good in her.

You can still see it in the people who are trying to make this all work. For the musician who grinds out their parts until their fingers hurt, or the potter who spins the wheel over and over again until they finally get the product they are after, the country still affords light in the darkness if we are willing to look for it. It isn’t on X, and it won’t be on MSNBC, and it indeed won’t be found in the halls of the Citadel of Crap known as Washington. But it might just be found in places like the boxing studio of my friend Joe, who rose up from a life that once was destined for darkness and made something amazing.

It might be found in the vineyard of my cousin, who, despite the hard obstacles of growing grapes on the front range of the Colorado mountains, is trying anyway.

I think it’s time to spend a lot more energy telling the stories of the people of this land instead of its politics. So, that is what I am going to do. I want to turn my efforts in video work and writing towards telling the good side of this country. It might be fruitless, but I have this sneaking suspicion that if we are able to tell the stories of people who are trying to recall the quieted DNA of the country in the work they are doing, we might see more change than if we spend it yelling like an angry man at the clouds.

I know it’s a wild thing to ask, but I would love for you to subscribe to another publication called On The Uptick.

That is where all of this storytelling can take place. I don’t want people to be afraid to talk to me because of my politics, so I am going to house it all over there. If you are inclined, I would love for you to sign up. I promise I won’t waste your time, and I think you'll enjoy the people we interview. I also believe we will find some pride in our country again. We will be able to look our neighbors in the eye and see them as something other than a Trump or Harris voter. Maybe if we see them in their best and most creative spaces, we won’t wonder what they think about Washington. Instead, we can admire their good work and their belief in the American landscape of opportunities. I am really excited about it and think that is how we can change our politics eventually. We can celebrate the good things and admire the amazing work that people do, and instead of blaming them for the ills of our nation, we can turn our focus towards helping them succeed.

I will continue to write about politics because we can’t simply ignore their silliness, but I want to expand beyond the doom and gloom of our world, and hopefully, it will become the foundation for a better American experience for all of us.

Hope to have you along.

Aaron