58,154

John Adams once stated, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” I might add that fair elections results are stubborn things as well.

Repeat after me, “My vote counts just as much as the next person’s.” We all have equal power on election night. One by one, votes in favor of Donald Trump were counted this past November. One by one those votes accumulated to 58,154. All of those single votes sent a very big message on behalf of the Basket of Deplorables. It is the equation of conservative democracy. 1+1+1+1+1…..+1+1 = 58,154.

During the 2024 Presidential Election, 58,154 people voted for Donald J Trump as President of the United States in Sullivan County. It was an overwhelming victory for the President. Roughly 78% of the Sullivan County vote went to the President Trump. Folks didn’t vote for Donald Trump, because they are happy with the way things are. Among several things, they are tired of alternative lifestyles being presented to students in public schools. They are tired of a lack of parental rights in their child’s own education. They are tired of their public schools not representing the American people. They want their children to go to successful schools. They want those schools to provide rigorous instruction, plentiful extracurricular opportunities(including the arts) and to provide character education. While all of those 58k (votes) are not Kingsport votes, I would assume the ratio and percentage of GOP to Democrat voters is quite similar. This is a red county and a red city – period.

I want to be very clear on something. Public schools in the United States are our schools. They….are…ours. We the people. We own them.

I believe school vouchers are a direct rebuke of how public schools have been run recently. Do not underestimate the damage that COVID closures have caused with public perception of public schools. There has been almost no acknowledgement from local school boards of the mistake to close schools – zero. The only accountability has come from voters who have voted out the BOE members who voted with the Biden administration to close schools.

That brings us to why many, many of us support vouchers. PRIVATE SCHOOLS STAYED LARGELY OPEN DURING COVID. If vouchers existed during COVID in Kingsport, we all would have left for private schools- all of us. Our leaders abused their powers to enforce a political outcome in an environment which is intended to be apolitical. My view on vouchers changed during the lockdowns. I wanted my freedom back. I wanted my family’s freedom back. I wanted protection from school lockdowns. I now want the community to have the same assurance.

I also want to add that Governor Bill Lee helped get schools open in Northeast Tennessee along with the Commissioner for the Department of Health. I won’t forget what they did for our students. They didn’t have to help us, but they did. They were crafty and maneuvered at a level that we could not. I should add that the Sullivan County BOE always listened to our local physicians – they were great. They reached out to our family and invited feedback in how to get schools safely open. Kingsport stubbornly closed its doors. Many lives were wrecked by the decision to keep KCS schools closed. By the end of the process I knew three things:

1. We were going to remove the people from office who did this to our kids. We would do that by first voting out BOE members who supported lockdowns. The people who we elected would have to agree to removing the bureaucrats and their bureaucratic superintendents who also supported lockdowns. And we will repeat this process this until the job is done. So, far one superintendent, two Superintendent cabinet members, and four BOE members have been ousted. We are not done. There is no safe harbor from the accountability of the ballot box.
2. No matter what it did to my reputation, I could no longer be quiet. Never again. Lord willing, to my dying days, I will do my best to speak on behalf of freedom and fairness.
3. I understood what it was like trapped in a school system which didn’t listen to the people they served. Kingsport Schools are our schools – not the BOEs, not the Superintendent’s cabinet, not the mayor’s. It is the people’s system. During the pandemic, we wanted our children to have access to quality education. We wanted a choice to leave virtual and hybrid learning. I believe school choice will protect us from that overreach again. I wake up every day with the commitment to stop that kind of government overreach – every….single…day.

Elections matter. Local elections matter. State elections matter. National elections matter. I know many say that all politics are local. But really, they all matter. When we fail to show up at the ballot box as informed voters, we run the risk of being absolutely screwed until the next election. I don’t believe I am the only person in Sullivan County who is committed to the cause of freedom.

In Sullivan County, I believe there are at least 58, 154 people who want Donald Trump to be a successful President. I also believe they want his policies to be successful. I freely admit that not all of those people live in Kingsport. The Kingsport BOE is wrongly stating that a vote for vouchers is a vote to harm Kingsport City Schools. It is not. In fact, I believe if KCS has to compete with private schools, it will make KCS a better system. Bad leadership and failing schools cannot survive in a competitive environment. KCS will have to adapt or fail, and that is a good, good thing. I think KCS will correct course, and become the system it once was and the system it was intended to be. If not, the people of Kingsport will have the ability to hold their own school system accountable both with their voucher and at the ballot box.

Little beat big when little is smart. First with the head, then with the heart. You can remember that? Geel Piet, The Power of One