I’ve had enough of the lies—from every direction.

And boy, are they rampant. The mainstream media used to refer to a politician’s lies as “spin.” But what we’re dealing with these days is way beyond a little twisting of the facts. Half the time, there aren’t any facts anywhere in sight. Like we’re living within the pages of Orwell’s 1984, we’re told we shouldn’t believe our eyes and ears. The way representatives on both sides fudge the facts is keeping us all exhausted and divided. I’ve used up hours firing off 1500-word replies on X and YouTube just to get the truth out there. Now I’m doing it here, where there’s room to breathe, think, and speak my piece… Plainly, regardless of who might disagree. The truth doesn’t care about whose team you’re on. And neither do I anymore.

Yes, I know, just what the internet needs, right? Another blog or newsletter from someone who wants to offer their opinions on politics and current events. But that’s not this. Not completely.

I didn’t create The Open Rebellion to tell people what to think. I’d much rather inspire you to ask better questions and think for yourself.

Too often, the people who are supposed to lead us, many of whom we elected, give us false choices or tell us an issue is black and white. We can do this or that. They want this, and we want that. The distance between the two ideas is massive, which only makes the divide between “left” and “right” larger, too. And through it all, no one is offering any valid solutions to the myriad problems we have in this country and around the world. The policies we put into place are usually extreme, costly, just crazy, or all three.

But we don’t have to buy into everything we hear. We don’t have to take everything at face value. We can choose not to take things so personally and become outraged, and we aren’t required to defend someone just because they’re “on our side.” We can consider the source, and instead of leaping into the fray, we can pause. Ask questions. Do research. Look for evidence.

Here’s what you can expect from me:

• Well-researched posts and essays

• thoughtful opinion pieces, based on facts, even if we don’t know them all

• historical context

• policy ideas

• media analysis

• Information on AI’s effect on our lives and our children’s futures

• democracy

• culture

• politicians and politics

• and occasionally, uncomfortable conclusions

I’d love to have you join me here. But whether this community grows to fifty readers or fifty thousand, my promise stays the same: I'll do my best to follow the evidence wherever it leads, admit when I'm wrong, and never ask you to choose a side. I will, however, ask you to think.