Paul’s been on the road this week, meeting with innovators, farmers, entrepreneurs, and everyday folks who are building real things, solving real problems, and thinking for themselves.

He recently visited UC Davis and the Mondavi Institute in California—places where science, agriculture, and innovation come together in powerful ways. That trip reminded him just how much energy and ingenuity can thrive when people are free to challenge assumptions and ask better questions.

Back home, he’s asking a tough question:
Why is it so hard to find that same spirit in state and local politics?

In this episode, Paul lays out a bold case for revisiting the concept of the marketplace of ideas framed by John Milton, John Stuart Mill, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and others---not the kind of marketplace dominated by buzzwords and talking points, but one where people actually listen, debate, disagree, and grow stronger through the process.

He talks about:

• Why we need more truth-tellers and fewer box-checkers
• How science and business welcome challenge—but politics runs from it
• What it means to earn trust, not just perform for it
• And how small towns like ours can lead with courage, not conformity

This episode is a call to action for thinkers, makers, and doers—people who want more than just safe answers and status quo politics.

The same spirit that drives innovation should drive our civic life.

It’s time for real talk, real debate, and real leadership.

Notable and Quotable:

“The Marketplace of Ideas” is not a new concept. It has been presented by John Milton, John Stuart Mill, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and others and has become commonplace. However, feel free to research their works to understand the original context.

Milton, John. Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England. 1644.

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: John W. Parker and Son, 1859.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. Dissenting opinion in Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616 (1919).

The quote "do what you can, with what you have, where you are" is often attributed to Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt gives credit for this quote to Squire Bill Widener with the original words being "do what you can, with what you've got, where you are."