I was sitting in church last week in my normal spot, second from the back row because I’m not a back bencher. You cannot avoid overhearing what people around you are saying when you are sitting in church.
There was a group of older ladies talking about their dismay and disappointment with the way kids are these days but how happy they were knowing that their children were raised in the church so they weren’t “that way”.
I couldn’t help but speculate how their kids were. But then it occurred to me that even though their kids were raised in the church, they were citizens of the world and away from the church, their kids had to compete with other kids who didn’t have the benefit of Christian teaching. And even then, temptations of the world are the biggest magnet for pulling kids raised in the church away and into the secular world. That learning the lessons in Sunday School might expose you to God’s messages, but that alone didn’t prevent other “preachers” from offering competing ideas.
So who are those other preachers? Well, our public school system is the place we send our kids to learn. So the preachers who are in the pulpit most of your kid’s life are teachers in whatever school your kids attend. If your kids go to Sunday School on Sunday then go to public schools Monday through Friday, which one do you think will have the greater influence?
That’s right, the teachers in the public schools have your kid’s attention five or six or seven hours during the day, five days per week. Under ideal circumstances, those teachers are exposing the class to Reading, Writing and Arithmetic along with Science, History and Social Studies. If you teach a kid to read, that child can accomplish almost anything. If you can’t read, you will be challenged to learn any of the other essentials. If you can read, you can teach yourself almost anything. If the public school system has one mission, it’s to teach kids to read. And yet, the failure rate for elementary school age children in learning to read has never been higher than today.
This little rant is one I often land on. If education has one vital function, it’s to teach reading and reading is the heart of our body of learning. Give a kid a weak heart and he will be handicapped the rest of his life.
Because I am a pundit, I wanted to insert myself into that conversation in church, but I did not. I didn’t have to bite my tongue, I just sat there silently.
Kids raised in the church on Sunday and in a Christian school during the week have a better chance of being a competent reader than kids in public schools because in my view, if you can’t read, you can’t read your Bible. But being in a Christian school doesn’t guarantee a Christian education.
Who makes the decision about who is teaching our kids and what they are being taught matters. The people in decision making positions decide who and what will be taught. So in your circle of influence, who is making those decisions? Do you know the names of your school board members? Do you know any of them personally? How about the principal at your kid’s elementary school? How about your kid’s teacher?
You put your kids into the care of these people and you probably don’t know enough about them to say with confidence they are teaching my kids the things they will need to know to be successful in the world or conversely, that they are not teaching your kids things that will undermine the values you think are important in your family.
I have to admit, today, I do not know the names of the school board members in our school district. My daughter and her kids are all well past public school age. I will say that when they were in school I did know most of the people in those positions.
Not everyone knows that typically, your public school district is the largest employer and business entity in your community.
When I shot my mouth off in 1987 and was critical of the city, I ran for city council because I thought my ideas made more sense than the ones I saw coming out of city hall. It could just as easily been a run for the school board.
I saw my local government heading in the wrong direction and rather than staying quiet, I spoke up and ran for office. I was advised by people I respect to stay quiet because I was in business in town. I answered with a typical STEVE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY answer. “The reason we are in this pickle today is because we stayed quiet and the ones now making the decisions have their own agenda.”
And that is my core message in everything I write about. The decisions that affect every aspect of our lives are made by the people at the table or the ones out in front. From 1987 until 2021, I served in some capacity governing the city of Snohomish Washington. Not because I they couldn’t get someone else to do it, but because the other people wanting the job had a different agenda than mine.
I put my business and my family at risk because I believed serving is our obligation and because a number of the other people wanting the jobs believed in different principles.
I recently wrote about Capitalism vs Progressivism. I am the Capitalist, they are the Progressives. A city’s first obligation is public safety. If people are not safe, what other function can a city provide that makes living there worth the risk? For all my years in government, I prioritized economic development because I understood that services like public safety (cops and firefighters) are paid for with taxes and in our state, sales taxes coming to the city are the life blood of spending. Are you with me? I’m the Capitalist on the council. I’m focused on making money for the city. Many of my council colleagues were the Progressives. All they could care about was how to spend the money. Sadly today, nearly all the council members are Progressives.
I ran for office because I thought, If not me, then who? Remember, I’m a near back bencher so that little pearl resonated with me. Send me Lord.
The most impactful lesson I learned during my thirty-four years of public service was the importance of showing up, to serve, to criticize and offer alternatives or to support the ones that do.
I started this essay today talking about learning to read and reading our Bibles and who is teaching our kids. If I had been motivated to run for school board rather than city council, my life would be different today and my school district would be different as well. The people sitting in those school board seats have a lot to do with what your kids are taught and what they are not taught. The quality of education in our country is determined by the ones who show up; to run for school board, to serve in the PTA to serve as a volunteer or teacher’s aid. Multiply that obligation by the number of school districts in the state or the country and you will see the scope of the job. But the lesson wasn’t a generic who, it was “will it be YOU?”
I don’t want to be too churchy in this, but one of every pastor’s core messages is “Nobody can do everything, but Everybody can do something.” There is an obligation to serve in some capacity in our churches, our schools, our cities, counties and states. Nobody is asking you to serve thirty-four years like I did, but you should do your compulsory duty to serve for a few years, even if it’s only during the years when your own kids are in school.
The decisions about what your kids are being taught are made by people who believe things differently than you do. Are you really surprised when you find out that the kids can’t read, or write, or do arithmetic? When I was in the restaurant business, I added a simple third grade math test to every job application I passed out to kids applying for work in my restaurant. If they couldn’t do third grade math as seventeen year old juniors in high school, I couldn’t hire them. My employees needed to know how to read and do simple math. And sadly, there were a disappointing number of kids who couldn’t fill out either side of the application.
The ones that showed up made the decisions about which kids were left behind. Or which ones were dragged along even though they couldn’t read.
Our country today is over run by almost fifty years of “graduates” from the public education system that cannot read or do simple math. Our education system is cranking out millions of kids heading off to college that cannot read, write a complete sentence or work a simple logic problem.
We get what we settle for. I was never willing to settle for less because that was all the system required.
If you wonder how you kid will fare in the world with the poor quality of her education, ask yourself one question, “What was MY contribution to a successful outcome for my child?”
Our school systems are screwed because we left the decisions to other people that showed up. Our city governments, county governments, state governments and our federal government are screwed up because most of us left the decisions to other people who showed up and they got their way and your kids got shafted.
We as a people don’t even bother to participate at the level of voting for the candidates who run for office. You don’t have to commit for four years, you just have to show up on election day and you won’t even do that.
Those ladies in that group at church don’t realize the ripples on the pools of their lives have such profound effects on their own kids and the others. We get what we deserve if we don’t bother to serve.
Get off your butts and pitch in doing something for the betterment of your community. Not only will it serve the now, it will serve the future by modeling positive behavior for your kids who are more likely to serve if they have a parent who served.
I actually wrote a book about public service and why some serve and others do not. It will be coming out here on my Substack in 2027.
I also have an essay I’m writing about how important education and participation in the system protect and promote liberty and freedom in America.
FIND ME FOR LONG FORM PUNDITRY AT SUBSTACK AS WELL http://www.theteapartypundit.substack.com/
No Loss for Words 
USING AI WITHOUT LOSING YOURSELF
by Steve DanaA Practical Guide for Thinking People in a Changing World
We are living through a quiet shift.
Not the kind that announces itself with headlines or breaking news, but the kind that slips into our lives one small convenience at a time. We ask a question, and an answer appears. We need help writing, and the words come together faster than we expected. We wonder about something we’ve never quite understood, and suddenly it makes sense.
Artificial Intelligence is not coming. It’s here. And like most things that make life easier, it doesn’t seem to ask much from us in return.
At least… that’s how it feels.
But if you’ve lived long enough to see a few cycles of change—and I suspect many of my readers have—you know that nothing this powerful comes without consequences. The question isn’t whether AI is useful. It clearly is.
The question is whether we are using it… or whether, little by little, it is beginning to use us.
The Promise: Why AI Is Worth Learning
Let’s start with the part that’s easy to overlook if you only listen to the warnings.
AI is an extraordinary tool.
For people who are curious—and that’s a trait I’ve always valued—it opens doors that used to require years of study or access to the right expert. Now you can ask questions, follow up, challenge the answer, and go deeper, all in a matter of minutes.
That’s not trivial.
It means someone who is willing to think can learn faster, write better, and organize ideas more clearly than ever before. It levels the playing field in a way that should not be dismissed.
I’ve seen it in my own work. It doesn’t replace thinking. It sharpens it.
It helps take a rough idea and turn it into something that can be communicated. It forces you to clarify what you mean, because if you don’t, the result doesn’t quite land.
And for those who feel like technology has passed them by, particularly older adults, this may be one of the first tools that actually invites them back into the conversation. That matters. Because a society that stops learning eventually stops thinking.
The Reality: Data Is the Currency
Now let’s talk about the part that makes people uneasy—and should. Every interaction you have with technology leaves a trace. That’s not new. It’s been happening for years. What’s different now is the level of sophistication in how that information is used. We are no longer just collecting data. We are interpreting it. Patterns are identified. Preferences are mapped. Behavior is anticipated. And that information has value.
It is used to shape what you see, what you read, and increasingly, what you are likely to believe. Not in a heavy-handed way, but in a gradual one. The kind that feels natural.
That’s where people get into trouble. Because it doesn’t feel like manipulation. It feels like information.
The Mistake: Treating AI Like a Private Conversation
There’s a habit forming that deserves a little pushback. People are starting to treat AI tools like they are having a private conversation with a trusted assistant. They are not.
These systems may feel conversational, but they are still systems. Anything you type has the potential to be stored, analyzed, or used to improve the tool itself.
That doesn’t mean you should avoid using AI. But it does mean you should draw a line. There are things that should remain yours:
If the information would cause you concern if it became public, it doesn’t belong in a prompt. That’s not fear. That’s common sense.
At the same time, there is a wide range of safe and productive uses:
The key is not avoidance. It’s discipline.
The Subtle Risk: Influence Without Awareness
The greater concern isn’t just data collection. It’s influence.
We’ve already seen what happens when algorithms decide what we see. Social media showed us that. People began living in information environments that reinforced what they already believed. AI has the potential to take that further.
Instead of simply showing you more of what you like, it can tailor responses in ways that are more likely to resonate with you personally. Not dramatically. Not obviously. But consistently.
Over time, that can narrow your perspective without you realizing it. It can make your world feel more certain than it actually is. And that’s where thinking people need to be careful. Because the danger isn’t that AI will tell you what to think.
The danger is that it might make you feel like you’ve already thought enough.
The Balance: Using the Tool Without Becoming the Product
So where does that leave us?
We don’t need to run from this technology. And we don’t need to blindly embrace it either. What we need is balance. Use AI to expand your thinking, not replace it. Use it to clarify your ideas, not make decisions for you. Use it as a tool, not as a companion. And perhaps most importantly:
Don’t give it more of yourself than a stranger should reasonably know.
That one principle, if followed consistently, will protect you from most of the downside.
The Bigger Question
There’s a larger issue sitting just beneath the surface.
AI doesn’t operate on its own.
It is built, trained, and deployed by people and organizations. Many of those organizations have incentives—financial, political, or otherwise—that shape how these tools are developed and used. That doesn’t make them evil. But it does mean they are not neutral. Power has always required oversight. That hasn’t changed.
What has changed is the scale.
The Responsibility We Still Carry
It’s easy to look at a tool like this and assume the responsibility lies somewhere else. With the developers. With the companies. With the regulators. But the truth is more uncomfortable. The responsibility still rests with us. We decide what to share. We decide what to believe. We decide whether we continue to think for ourselves.
AI can assist that process. It cannot replace it.
Final Thought
We have built something powerful. There’s no going back from that. But forward doesn’t have to mean careless. We can use this tool to become more informed, more capable, and more thoughtful. Or we can use it in a way that slowly erodes those very qualities. The difference won’t be determined by the technology, it will be determined by the people using it.
And that brings us right back to where we started.
The question isn’t whether AI is part of our future. It’s whether we will remain fully ourselves in the process.
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