Why I'm Joining Substack

Welcome to my Substack newsletter!

It is with much trepidation (mostly from my staff) that I begin this endeavor. First, here’s the most important thing you need to know. Everything posted here will be written by me. These are my thoughts, my words.

Maybe I’ll let my staff proofread or copy edit for clarity, but if you want to read a behind-the-scenes account of what it’s really like to be a United States Senator, you’ll get that here. If you want an unconventional analysis of what’s wrong with America, what’s right with America, and how Democrats and Republicans can come together to make our communities better, you’ll get that here. On the other hand, if you want partisan hit jobs, poll tested talking points, or takes on the political “news of the day”, go follow somebody else.

My goal is for this newsletter to look different, and feel different, from anything else you’re seeing from national politicians. Lately, I’ve tired of the same worn out fault lines that separate the two political parties and define our political discussions. As I travel throughout Connecticut and the country, I’ve been experiencing a rolling revelation – that there is a political realignment underway in America today that will soon marry together Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, on a serious, comprehensive agenda to restore meaning and positive identity to our increasingly hollow lives. I won’t give away all the things I’ve learned in this first post, but over and over, I keep running into a left/right consensus that most pundits and other officeholders refuse to see.

If you look hard enough, you will see this realignment all around us.

Americans of all political stripes are questioning whether our blind faith in the net good of rapidly advancing technological development will eventually ruin us. Already, social media is hurting our kids and corrupting our national dialogue. Around the corner, we wonder how on earth we will control artificial intelligence as it seeks to replace basic human functions.

Left and right America join together in their nostalgia for lost local identity. Healthy small towns disappear, local merchants get gobbled up by megastores, and our local meeting places, like churches and social clubs, wither away. Our culture and economy have become one giant, antiseptic, Amazonified international monolith, and it leaves people feeling isolated, lonely, and cold.

No one, no matter their party affiliation, seems happy with the commodification of everything not nailed down. There seems little room for virtue any longer in a world where every facet of life is monetized. People with money get better seats on planes, the best views at baseball games, faster transit through airport security, and higher quality education for their kids. The commercialization of every experience has separated us from each other and substituted good commerce for good character as the defining American value.

I’m going to talk about this developing realignment in this newsletter. But I also don’t want to bog you down in heavy social science – no less from a total amateur social scientist. So this newsletter will also be filled with details about what life is really like in the United States Senate. I will peel back the curtain on my daily work, and try to both demystify the experience of public service and translate (in easily digestible terms) the important issues the Senate is faced with.

Sure, I will probably take the bait occasionally and make a comment or two on the hot topics of the moment. But if that’s what you’re truly interested in, turn on cable news. This newsletter will be different: a conversation about the metaphysical health of the nation; an attempt to chart a national political realignment; a candid account of the experience of being a U.S. Senator; and a helpful breakdown of the big issues of the day.

I’m going to start by posting each Thursday. If this takes off or I’m having more fun than I expect, then the pace will increase. I hope you’ll give it a chance.