On Independence

"Say what you mean, mean what you say..."

Last night, the Wall Street Journal posted a deep-dive article about the way that corporate interests are using so-called “influencers” to conduct clandestine, undisclosed lobbying campaigns. I will eschew comment on most of the article, including the specific personalities discussed within it, or quotes like “In 2026, I believe attention is going to be the currency of power.”

But the Journal expose highlights two things I want to make crystal clear. First, if I ever have a conflict-of-interest that might cause readers to question my perspective in my writings, I will disclose it.* I try to go out of my way to be transparent, to build trust with my readers—because ultimately, trust (and NOT money) is the true currency of persuasion.

Second, I will NEVER abandon my principles for lucre. As I said when I launched this Substack, I hope that subscription revenue will help support some of the policy work that I don’t get paid for, while demonstrating a market for analysis that is objective, independent, and adheres to conservative principles. But whether it does or it doesn’t, I won’t be caught dead shilling for causes I don’t believe in.

Sermon over—back to work.

*For instance, here I will note the fact that, over a decade ago, I worked for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) when he chaired the Republican Policy Committee. While I have previously mentioned that potential conflict, I don’t necessarily repeat it in every post, because 1) his name comes up frequently and 2) I haven’t had a one-on-one conversation with his staff, let alone Sen. Thune himself, in over 10 years.