We are the keepers of the flame

Dear Friends,

Did you happen to catch Joe Biden’s farewell address? It was a good speech that I encourage you to watch if you missed it. One piece of it will stay with me for a long time. He said, “It’s your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it too.”

I don’t agree with Joe Biden on a lot of things, but my God did he hit the nail on the head there. It’s so simple, but so profound. In America, We the People are the keepers of the flame. And let’s be honest, folks: right now, we’re not doing the best job of it.

An authoritarian who tried to overturn an American election will become our 47th president in four days. Never thought it could happen here, huh? Well it did. Now we’re left to figure out how the fuck it happened and what we can do now.

First, we have to take responsibility. Our democracy is teetering because of us. WE are too divided, and Donald Trump is the ugly by-product of that division. Though he inarguably widened the divide by orders of magnitude, he didn’t create it; he capitalized on it. That’s what Trump does. But he couldn’t have been so successful at it if we weren’t so damn willing to be divided in the first place.

We stopped doing our job as citizens in this great experiment. We stopped being tolerant and respectful, we stopped being informed, and we stopped being civically engaged. We let sharing memes take the place of active citizenship. In short, we stopped keeping the flame. These are our responsibilities as free citizens, our social contract with each other. You wanna preserve our democracy? Quit blaming politicians, quit blaming Facebook. It’s on us. That’s the reality we have to reckon with if we’re going to get out of this. And let’s be plain: there’s no guarantee we will. But we aren’t going down without a fight.

I’m building a community of Americans who will recommit to our democratic ideals, oppose authoritarianism, and renew their social contract with each other so that no authoritarian becomes president of America ever again. That’s what the Social Contract is all about. And I’m proud to announce that in addition to my Social Contract podcast, we’re launching this Substack next week.

In a world with a gazillion Substacks, why should you subscribe to this one?

Because I’ve had a political journey that no one else has had. I’ve gone from Tea Party congressman, to right-wing media star, to nationally syndicated conservative talk radio host, to Trump supporter, to Trump’s most outspoken conservative critic (thereby losing that radio show and all of those Fox News appearances), to proud NeverTrumper, to challenging Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination, to leaving the Republican Party (a party I’ve been part of my whole adult life) and becoming an independent, to doing all I could to help Joe Biden win in 2020 and Kamala Harris win in 2024. All in 15 years.

My political journey has given me a unique perspective that I hope can help guide us toward answers and understanding in these dangerous times. I played a key role in helping to divide us. I was a divisive political asshole. For the past six years, I’ve been on a mission to help heal the divisions I helped to create. That will continue to be my mission with this Substack.

Finding truth in the age of Trump won’t be easy, especially the second time around. We all know how much misinformation is out there. Mainstream media has been widely discredited, and Trump’s MAGA groupies are dominating podcasts and social platforms. Hell, some of them even own them.

This Substack is me. No big donors. No talking heads. No corporate owners. Just me. I promise not to overwhelm you either. I intend to respect your time, because I know you’re busy. You have a life, and you don’t need to see Joe Walsh in your inbox three times a day. So I’m keeping this straight to the point. Twice a week, you’ll get my take on what’s happening with an emphasis on what we—you and I—can do to pull us back from the brink.

If you’re so inclined, I’ll have some extra features for you if you’ll kindly upgrade to a paid subscription. I’ll be straight with you: I’m not thrilled about this. I’ve never charged for content ever, and it feels a little uncomfortable. But I do have a couple people helping me out with this thing, and for some odd reason, they don’t want to work for free. (Crazy, right?) Unlike some folks, I actually still care about fact-checking. If you do too, help me keep a fact-checker employed by becoming a paid subscriber.

We’ll be having some fun here too, because pursuing happiness is a big, important part of our social contract in the USA. It’s literally enshrined in our founding documents, and I’m not about to question the Founders, are you? Hell no.

It’s on us to be the keepers of the flame now, my friends—more than ever in our lives as Americans. That’s what we’ll be doing here at the Social Contract. I really hope you’ll join us.

Thanks,
Joe Walsh
#NoKings

P.S. Hey, could you do me another quick favor? If you plan to stand with me against authoritarianism, put the #NoKings hashtag on your social media accounts. Let’s send a message to Trump and his MAGA cronies that we’re standing guard and keeping the flame.