You told The Collegian you were just someone who just got some good advice. Can you expound on that?
My first boss in Washington was Terry Jeffrey at Human Events, and he pushed on me the idea of being a reporter, even though we were writing for an opinion-oriented conservative publication. He drove home the idea that my opinion would be far less persuasive than new facts. And he also gave me a very good piece of advice, which is that wherever government power and money intersect, you will find stories of corruption.
What I consider my grad school was my job for Bob Novak, and he mostly by example showed my why to be a reporter, some ways to be a good reporter, even when you’re on the opinion page.
Can you name a time when the Republican “team” pushed you to think a certain way?
Well, there was an ugly clash back in `02 and `03, when most conservatives were supporting invading Iraq. I didn’t support it, and Novak didn’t support it. And there was a lot of name-calling and friendships broken up over that. I got a little bit of that, and Novak got a lot of it, so that has sort of hardened me to the point where it is easy for me to strike out on my own views.
Can you describe your libertarianism?
I think one misperception that people have is that libertarians can’t be pro-life. But Ron Paul is the most famous libertarian in the world, and he is 100 percent pro-life. If you think the government’s job is too narrow to protect innocent people from violence, abortion falls under that.
Another misperception sometimes is that libertarian means “libertine” – that you don’t think there are lots of moral laws or rules governing behavior. I think that is wrong-headed. I see libertarianism as a view of what government’s proper role is. I believe the church has authority. I believe in moral authority and moral law, and I believe that government’s authority is very limited.
What do you think of Hillsdale College?
I love Hillsdale so far. The main thing that strikes me is how friendly everybody is. I like that the students come to class in a professional manner, basically being on time and dressed like they are going to work. I think that indicates a seriousness in their study.
I like academia. I loved college in general. A lot of the same thing I liked about St. John’s [College], I like about Hillsdale.
One thing that strikes me about Hillsdale that’s different from what I enjoyed in my own college experience is that the campus seems very involved in national politics, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. I thought that at St. John’s staying distant from national politics was a good thing because college was about engaging the bigger ideas and eternal truths. And a presidential election is very far from big ideas and eternal truths for the most part.
How big is Catholicism in your life?
I fully came into the church as an adult. That’s another way in which Bob Novak was a mentor to me, in that he was a late-life convert. When I was working for him, I was attending Mass but I hadn’t received all of the sacraments – communion and confession and confirmation. Novak put me in touch with a priest in downtown D.C. whom I met with and who gave me the instruction I needed and answered my questions and gave me readings. It was a process of eventually bringing me fully into the church.
It has changed the way I feel about some issues. I’m more pro-immigration, more anti-war, more anti-death penalty that I was. I’ve more of a sense of individual responsibility to care for those who need help, which is something I think a lot of conservatives don’t spend enough of time thinking about.
What advice would you give to an undergrad Hillsdale College student interested in journalism?
I can’t imagine having a better job, unless I was a major league baseball player. And even then, they retire at like, 35 and the rest of their life is kind of looking back on glory days.
But to anybody who has any interest in journalism, I’d say definitely consider it, pursue it. If what you’re interested in is opinion journalism, remember you have to be a reporter to do a good job.
If Hillsdale invited you back, would you say yes?
Yes, definitely. Maybe I would schedule a flight home over the weekend to see my kids or get a house off campus that could fit us all. But even then, I would have to keep my kids entertained. They would have to plan it during the county fair every year.
Anything else you want to add?
I was struck by the ability of the dining hall to produce food that from all different food groups that were equally flavorless. I literally could not tell the difference between the taste of the roast beef and the taste of the green beans and the taste of the rice, but Saga Steve was incredibly friendly.