re: How old were you when you first really got interested in politics and public policy?

My true interest in national politics occurred during the Clinton v Dole election. I was in my 20s then. I was in my first year of law school when Clinton was impeached which probably has a lot to do with it.

My family has always been interested in politics. More local politics than anything else. We’ve always discussed it. My dad avoids politics and politicians and my mom is way more into all that kind of scoop.

My dad’s mother (my hero) was a true intellectual and she LOVED Phyllis Schaffey (which I can’t spell). She horrified my grandfather (life long, politically active blue dog Democrat) when she went to see Reagan speak and brought my mom along when he was running in the primary v Carter. She eventually talked my grandfather into becoming a Reagan Democrat. She converted my whole family and I remember distinctly excitement surrounding Reagan’s election.

I think it’s so cool that my grandmother met Ronald Reagan.

I was 12. 1968.

King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Vietnam. Nixon elected. Apollo 7 relief they didn't die, then Apollo 8 circling the moon, the Tet Offensive, the Prague Spring, Chicago Democratic Convention violence, George Wallace winning five southern states in the presidential election, on and on.

Impossible to not be tuned into politics then. It was a monumental year.

For me it was the 1996 election and first learning about the national debt. I was one of two kids in my homeroom class that voted for Bob Dole (eww). After that, it was the Lewinsky 90s/tech bubble and I went to college always despising Bush.

When I was a high schooler, I watched all the major political news shows on Sunday and Peter Jennings during the week for the nightly news. I was always a centrist but I became a Libertarian/ancap after reading "End the Fed" and subscribing to Peter Schiffs radio show. Sowell was also a great influence.

When Reagan ran for his first term as Prez and I voted for him

2013. Was a know nothing liberal. Watched and cheered as the media tore Mitt Romney apart. Then watched them speak about him with appreciation after he lost. Then realized he was a liberal. Then realized I was a know nothing liberal. Then started watching YouTube videos; mostly old Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell interviews.

When I was 23 circa 2007, hungover, riding the LSU bus through Tigerland and saw a Ron Paul sticker on a stop sign. Intrigued, I googled him when I got home and was like, “wtf!! This dude is full of common sense!”. So, I volunteered for his campaign, put out signs, began writing op-Eds (published 20 or so in various newspapers across America since), and I awakened to political BS. Began attending BR council meetings (circus) and ended up in DC working for think tank for awhile.

Running for political office in AL in 2022, and I have it all to blame/credit on a hungover bus ride seeing a blue sticker with a simple name 14 years ago.