Tales from the Mark side: The conservative voice of Manatee County

By Mark Young

Oh, don’t worry, I’ll explain the headline in a little bit, but first I would just like to welcome you to this corner of conservative heaven in Manatee County. It’s sorely needed in a community that is largely conservative, and yet surrounded by liberal media outlets. This community has suffered a viral infection for far too long and I’m not talking about COVID-19. The real virus has been spread by the media ever since President Donald Trump descended from Trump Tower to announce his bid for the presidency.

Since that time, and even before, you have been lied to by the media, and trust me, I know a thing or two about it. While the Manatee Herald may be in its infancy, I’ll tell you why I have brought my 25 years of journalism experience to the Manatee Herald. Unlike other local media, the Manatee Herald will succeed as these other outlets in our community continue to sink faster than Joe Biden’s approval ratings. The Manatee Herald gets it, to put it bluntly. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that. And I believe that because I believe in what the Manatee Herald stands for within this community: The truth and conservative values and we will not shy away from either.

Many of you may recognize me as the former urban affairs reporter for the Bradenton Herald. The BH is owned by McClatchy, designated as a left-leaning media company by nonpartisan groups that study media content. The short story of why I’m a former employee is because I love my country and our military more than I loved my job. Like many Americans, I was shocked and angered at the way the Biden administration botched the Afghanistan situation, which we’ll talk a lot about in the coming weeks. I posted my displeasure on social media and was fired on August 28 after refusing to apologize for stating the obvious: Joe Biden is unfit for office and has spent a half-century on the wrong side of both foreign and domestic policy. We’ll talk about that more in the coming weeks. I’ll just say that I have never been fired from a job in my 56 years of life and I have never been more proud to be fired for standing up for my love of country first and foremost. I refused to apologize and my soul was freed that day. As a man of faith, I believe everything happens for a reason. I am here with you today as part of that process, as God moves me in a new direction. I couldn’t be happier about that. It was a long time coming, and we’ll have some fun with it along the way, but this isn’t the time.

For now, let’s concentrate on the basics of what you are in for with me at the Manatee Herald. “God is a Republican,” is a headline I use every time I start a new opinion column.

Besides 25 years of reporting, I spent almost 10 years of that time doing political humor columns for newspapers in Florida, Nebraska and Wyoming. I was advised by very popular columnists that as a reporter and a columnist, to never discuss politics or religion in my columns. However, I was never very good at bending a knee to mainstream rules, so I ignored that advice completely. My mother is probably nodding her head right about now, saying, “That stubborn boy always was a handful.” My former platoon sergeants would be agreeing with my mother, but I digress.

To take on the taboo resulted in several awards for opinion writing, but blah, blah, blah, who really cares about that kind of thing? Not even I do. The one exception is being voted Readers Choice Favorite Columnist for all four years I wrote an opinion piece in Nebraska. Now that was an honor because what matters to me is you, the dear reader, and that you get the truth without media distortion.

I can promise you a few things along the way. I’m not going to pull punches. I’m not going to be politically correct.

As I said, this will not be a liberal safe space. We will not be silenced by social media Twitter trolls and 30-year-old keyboard warriors living in mama’s basement. I look forward to crushing liberal logic here under the weight of facts. Liberals don’t like that, believe me. Liberals have a long history of name calling when they are losing an argument. The go-to insult used to be calling conservatives Nazis and I was being called a Nazi long before it was cool for liberals to try and insult conservatives over my many years as a columnist. Liberals still cling to that word today, but of course have shifted to calling conservatives racists nowadays, whether they be white, black or brown, and no matter the substance of conversation. Do they even know what those words mean? I tend to think they do not. All you have to do is look at what the New York Times did to Larry Elder who is battling disgraced California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the recall election. Oh, we’ll talk about that disgraceful piece of writing from the Times later as well.

Seriously though, I could be talking to a liberal about whether ketchup belongs on a hamburger, and if I’m on the wrong side of that argument, I’ll get called some kind of version of being a fascist, another word they don’t have a clue as to its meaning.

Conservatives believe in what our Founding Fathers believed, and for the most part, liberals don’t.

We believe that the Constitution is the hard foundation of this beautiful nation, and not a document that is up for interpretation and changed to fit an anti-American political agenda.

Not on my watch. Not on our watch.

Debating with liberals can be fun, but also frustrating at times. I put it on the same level as trying to train a cat to do a complicated trick. In the end, and after all of your efforts, the cat just looks at you like you’re the stupid one. Once liberals realize they have no actual facts to move an argument forward, they call you names and throw temper tantrums. It’s their go-to finale as they huff and puff and walk away all self-righteous like, under some delusion that they actually won the debate.

It’s surreal at times, but it fascinates me when I look into their eyes and try to figure out what kind of rodent is spinning the wheel inside their minds. The term “liberal logic” is, of course, the ultimate oxymoron. Even a rat is smart enough to know when to abandon a sinking ship like the Biden administration, but today’s Democrats defiantly cling to the railing as the water rushes in. They say something childish like, “My ship’s not sinking. Your ship is sinking … gurgle, gurgle gurgle,” as you watch them go under with stubborn ignorance. It’s quite the phenomenon if you think about it.

Manatee Herald readers, this is going to be our time to make some noise. You’ll hear my loud and proud to be an American voice, and I want to hear yours. I’m tired of being silenced because I love my country and I know you are too.

I’m running long here with this initial hello, so I’ll close with just a couple of things.

No. 1: With all the news, social media, and other things are thrown at you 24/7 these days, I cherish the fact that you choose to spend a little time with me.

No. 2: Buckle up. You are in for the ride of your conservative life. We’ll talk a lot about Biden’s nonstop blunders, as well as the manipulation strategies of the left and their media partners. And we’ll talk local politics, too.

How often we take this journey together is kind of up to you. So, for now, I look forward to our next visit.