You Lead, I’ll Keep Up.
I’m an old man. I’ve lived long enough to know who actually holds things together.
It isn’t us.
Men will tell you we built this country. And in some ways that’s true. We swung the hammers and turned the wrenches and drove the trucks. We were the muscle when muscle was what was needed.
But muscle without backbone is just weight. And you have always been the backbone.
I’ve watched it my whole life. When things fall apart it’s women who hold the pieces. When the money runs short it’s women who stretch it. When the children need steadying it’s women who provide the steady. When the country loses its way it’s women who remember where it was supposed to go.
I’ve watched the early primaries this year. I see what’s moving. I see who’s moving it.
It’s you.
And it always has been.
So let me tell you why I write what I write. And why I believe every word of it lands in your life in a way that is personal — not political. Not abstract. Personal.
When I write about the cost of living I’m writing about you standing in the grocery store doing the math in your head that nobody else in the family is doing. I’m writing about the choices you make before you even get to the checkout line. Which brand. Which size. What to put back. What the kids won’t notice is missing.
When I write about the war overseas I’m writing about you. The mother checking her phone. The wife who learned to read between the lines of a government statement. The daughter who knows someone on that deployment list. The woman who understands in her bones what it means when young men are sent somewhere for reasons that don’t quite add up.
When I write about AI and technology and the future of how we communicate I’m writing about you. Because you are the ones who will decide whether these tools serve your family or whether your family serves these tools. You have always been the filter between what the world hands you and what actually comes through the front door.
When I write about governance and accountability and who holds power and how they use it — I am writing about you. Because you are the ones who feel it first when power is misused. In your healthcare. In your schools. In your workplace. In your home. In your body.
You are not the audience for what we write here.
You are the reason we write it.
I’ve seen the numbers this year. The early primaries are not lying. Women are not sitting this out. Women are not waiting to be told what to think. Women are moving with the kind of quiet determined force that has broken empires before and will break this one too if it needs breaking.
This old man is not here to lead that charge.
I’m here to tag along. To carry what I can. To open the door and get out of the way.
But I am also here to say this plainly — we want to hear from you. Not just read by you. Heard from you.
If something we write lands close to home — tell us. If we miss the mark — tell us that too. If there is something you need said that nobody is saying — bring it here. We will say it.
This is not a platform built for one voice. It is built for the people who hold things together when everything else is coming apart. And that has always been you.
Reach out. Write to us. Share what you’re carrying. Tell us what you see from where you stand.
Because where you stand is where the truth lives.
And this old man still wants to know the truth.
Im listening.
A steward of truth.
A New Category: “AI Baseline Governance”
“Intelligent People Assume Nothing” | Michael S Faust Sr. | Substack
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