Q & A With Brian

Who is the man behind the newsletter?

I have been tremendously thankful for the response I have gotten over the past two months to this newsletter. I started this Substack to provide information about current events in Idaho as well as national events that are of interest to the citizens of our state. My goal is not just to hear myself talk, but to start meaningful discussions about issues that are important to all of us.

But who am I? What is my background? Everyone has biases, what are mine?

I typically avoid writing about myself. I prefer to keep the issues and ideas front and center. Just for one day I will make it about me.

Where are you from?

I was born in California to a military family, but lived most of my life in western Washington state. I went to public school in a very small town. I moved to Idaho in the fall of 2018 after watching taxes continue to go up and regulations continue crack down on liberty. I am so thankful to have spent the pandemic in free Idaho rather than totalitarian Washington, though I miss the mountains, the forests, and even the rain.

Rainier High School Class of 1999

Do you have a family?

I have been happily married for eight years as of this month. My wife and I have four children.

Do you make a living off your writing?

Not yet, though that is one of my goals. My day job is as a self-employed IT consultant. I have more than fifteen years in the IT industry, working in private, public, and nonprofit sectors. I started my own firm when we moved to Idaho in 2018.

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy walking, gardening, traveling, and reading, listening to podcasts or anything else that involves learning new ideas. I am especially passionate about history. I have been working on family genealogy for twenty years, and have learned the stories of many ancestors who came to America prior to the Revolution. I have visited all fifty states as well as ten foreign countries.

What interests you about genealogy?

I believe it is important to understand our ancestors and the world they lived in. We are the inheritors of a great civilization, and it is our duty to honor them by living in such a way as to be worthy of their legacy.

The grave of my 6th-great-grandmother in Cherry Valley, New York

Are you a Republican?

Yes. I was an alternate delegate at the 2020 Idaho State GOP Convention and have been an alternate precinct committeeman for Legislative District 14 for the past two years. This week I filed to run as a PC in the May primary. I believe the Republican Party is the most effective forum for local political action.

At the 2020 Idaho State Republican Party Convention

What organizations do you belong to?

On the business side, I am a member of the Eagle Chamber of Commerce. I am also part of Eagle Conservatives and the Ronald Reagan Republican Club of Ada County.

Did you serve in the military?

I did not, and I regret not taking the opportunity when it was there. I come from a Navy family, however, with my father, several uncles, a grandfather, and a great-grandfather having all served.

Are you a Christian?

Yes. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who died and rose again, and is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I do not identify with a specific denomination but my views land somewhere in the neighborhood of Evangelical, Baptist, or Presbyterian Christianity.

Do you think religion has a place in the public square?

I have become convinced that we must rebuild our society in a way that is explicitly Christian. We have tried neutral agnosticism for several generations now, and it has led to a country where our traditional values are denigrated while every deviant idea is celebrated. Our nation is plagued with depression, divorce, drug addiction, extreme sexual promiscuity, and hopelessness. Let’s try something different. Our founding fathers recognized the importance of Christianity in maintaining the fabric of civilization.

What is your view on abortion?

I am fully pro-life. I believe life begins at conception, and that both abortion providers and the women who solicit them should be jailed for murder. I support any law that will reduce the availability of abortions in our state and our country. Beyond all the arguments is the idea that societies should be judged by how they treat the weakest among them, and there is no human being weaker or more vulnerable than an unborn child.

My wife and I with our firstborn baby

Who do you support for the 2024 presidential election?

I have soured on the idea of looking to the White House for salvation. Reclaiming our country must happen from the bottom up, not the top down. I do not recommend expending too much time and energy on the presidential campaigns - focus on local races instead. That said, despite his age, Donald Trump remains the singular figure that strikes fear into the heart of both the radical left and the Republican establishment, so it is his race to lose.

Who is your favorite president?

There are several good ones to choose from. George Washington was the first and the greatest, never to be equaled. Grover Cleveland was underrated, and both Andrew Jackson and Calvin Coolidge were extremely admirable. I have come around to the idea that Richard Nixon was severely underrated because of the Watergate scandal. Ronald Reagan remains an inspiring figure, of course.

When did you become interested in politics?

I have been an avid follower of politics as far back as I can remember. I recall staying up late in November 1992 to watch the election returns and feeling disappointed when it became apparent that Bill Clinton would win. After spending my first thirty years observing and learning, I decided to spend the next phase of my life getting directly involved. I was a PC in King County, Washington before moving to Idaho. I was disappointed in how demoralized the Republican Party was back there, and I am excited to be part of a much more dynamic group here in the Treasure Valley.

Perfecting my oratory

What generation are you a part of?

I straddle the line between Generation X and Millennial, and believe I exhibit characteristics of both. Like many of my generation, I spent much of my twenties lost, not knowing what to do or how I fit into society. Since I turned thirty I have been making up for lost time. Millennials and Zoomers often feel left out of the American Dream that their parents and grandparents enjoyed, and we need to build a new message based upon timeless principles.

What is your prognosis for America?

I believe that the America we know and love is on its last legs. I have been writing at my other blog for three years now about the last days of the republic. Rather than lament the hard times in which we find ourselves, I believe that this is an opportunity to build something new out of the remnant of the historic American nation.

What about the Constitution?

The Constitution has not been properly amended in half a century. Rather, since then it has been twisted to mean whatever a handful of activist judges want it to mean. I believe the Constitution is basically a dead letter at this point. We should strive to return to its ideals, but it cannot save us from a situation it failed to prevent. John Adams said the Constitution was made for a “moral and religious people” and that is no longer who we are, sadly. We have to fix the people first, before we can return to the Constitution.

Visiting the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC

Do you expect civil war?

I see four possibilities for the future of our country. They are, from my most preferred outcome to my least:

• Soft secession: This is where we still pretend that the federal government runs the country under the Constitution, but in practice the states begin retaking more and more power from DC and operating as semi-sovereign nations within the country. I believe we need to gently nudge our state government in this direction.

• Peaceful breakup, or national divorce: Various states break off from the federal government and form regional alliances. This could include counties breaking away from states as well - see how some citizens of eastern Oregon are already talking about joining a “Greater Idaho”.

• Civil war: This would not resemble the US Civil War of the 1860s, but would be more like the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s with a divide between urban and rural populations. It would be extremely violent and bloody, so pray this does not happen.

• Totalitarian state: Unfortunately the alternative might be the federal government transforming into a clone of the Chinese Communist Party, completely outlawing dissent and micromanaging our everyday lives. This is the worst-case scenario

That’s pretty dark. Why are you so pessimistic?

I don’t see myself as pessimistic. I believe in speaking the truth, no matter what, and this is how I see things happening in our country. I am not worried. As a Christian, I believe my eternal destiny is not in this world. Like Esther, I believe that God placed me in the world for such a time as this. As J.R.R. Tolkien said, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Do you believe this is the end times?

As a teenager I was very much into premillennial eschatology. I read authors such as Hal Lindsey who tried to match current events to biblical prophecies. Over the last ten years I have moved away from this view. Today I believe that some prophecies were fulfilled in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, while some remain for the future. However, I do not believe that trying to match prophecies to current events is a good use of our time. Christ will return when He returns, and trying to guess is a fool’s game. The end of America is not necessarily the end of the world. Let us content ourselves with spreading the gospel as Christ commanded, and building strong Christian families and communities that will be ready for whatever the future brings.

With my daughter looking at the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan

What is your vision for the future?

I believe in long-term thinking. I look to the next ten, fifty, even one hundred years and try to imagine how my actions today will echo through those times. Our country is built around short-term planning, but we need a longer view. We must work now so that our children’s’ grandchildren will have a homeland to live and prosper in. Societies prosper when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit. Let’s plant some trees.