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I love our country. How can you not be romantic about America? Despite our imperfect history, our diverse backgrounds, and the very real challenges millions of Americans face, profound hope and possibility endure. Our belief in the great potential of our future isn’t some pollyannaish dream. America’s history is one of progress through adversity, groundbreaking innovation, and expanding freedom, security, and equality for all in the ongoing pursuit of a more perfect union.
Time and again, we've proven that our success depends on one essential choice: to unite and work together.
But turn on Fox News, spend a few minutes on Twitter, or scroll through your uncle’s social media timeline and you won’t likely find the recipe required for American success. We’ve got a signal-to-noise problem.
Imagine you’re in a crowded room filled with chatter (the noise), but across the room, someone is speaking directly to you with a clear and important message (the signal). If the noise is too loud, it becomes difficult to hear the signal, but if the noise fades, you can focus entirely on what’s important. It is imperative for us to realize that there are harmful forces (some of them foreign) whose primary goal is to flood the zone of our attention with irrelevant, distracting, and misleading information. Noise.
On the 2022 campaign trail, I had the privilege of connecting directly with voters from all walks of life in their living rooms, at town halls, and over burgers in a massive, mostly rural New York district. I heard their stories, concerns, and hopes for their families, futures, and the direction of our country. Their shared desire to strengthen our communities and improve our nation reinforced my faith that American greatness has been—and always will be—rooted in the choice to unite and work together.
From the CIA & White House to the private sector, I've seen incredible potential unlocked when people with diverse perspectives and skills come together to tackle complex challenges. The future belongs to the problem solvers and unifiers, not the incessant complainers and profiteers of division.
Yet, I’ve also seen progress stall when entrenched special interests and forces protecting the status quo distract us from the things that truly matter to all of us by appealing to base fears and tribal instincts of some of us. The profiteers of division create a fundamentally un-American noise that obscures the true signal of our success: America thrives when we choose to unite and work together.
This is a place to cut through that noise.
I hope that you’ll follow along, engage, and lend your voice to the signal we need for America’s success.
All the best,
Matt Castelli
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