Hey everybody. Welcome back to in the middle, the podcast that challenges the status quo of partisan politics and holds both parties accountable to include their leaders. I'm Justin Staden guys, and it's been a minute since I've sat in front of this microphone and I'm gonna jump right into it. I've been gone for a while and it's been a little over a year since I've recorded an episode. And I rather than jumping into a right into an episode talking about, the bullshit that we're seeing across America, I thought I I should start with an explanation.
I feel like I owe you all an explanation. So first off, let me say I'm sorry. I know some of you have been asking what happened? What happened to the show? Where'd you go?
Why'd you leave us hanging? Where's in the middle? Dude, why'd you stop? Why'd you stop your podcast? Well, that's that's what we're gonna talk about today.
That I am dedicating this show to explaining that to you guys. I feel like I owe that to you. The truth is I stepped away for a bit not because I really, like, wanted to step away from the show or because the fight isn't still raging in this country to take back our liberties and freedoms, and believe me, it's still raging and it's it's uglier than ever, as you guys can all see. But I stepped away because I had to. My confession to you guys is this.
I got caught up in the very thing that I talk about sometimes on this show, my business interest and profit. You see, I needed to get more involved in my business and growing my wealth. Well, I didn't have to. I wanted to. That's the truth.
And I've been deeply involved in in growing my business interests over the last year. You know, guys, I you know, I've I've talked about it on the show. I'm I'm very passionate about creating something or something didn't exist and something that supports people and that that builds up and rather than, you know, tearing stuff down like some people in this country wanna do. And to be real, running a business can consume you, especially when you're trying to do it right. And that's what happened to me.
It takes time, focus and energy, to, to do it right. And so I got caught up in it and I'm not saying that getting caught up and, and, and stepping away to, to focus my efforts into my business was a mistake. You know, I I love what I'm building. I love real estate. For those of you that don't know, I'm a I'm a real estate investor.
So I don't feel like that decision was a mistake, but I let it pull me away from something that I feel is just as important, which is this platform. The space that you and I, you me and you, the folks that listen, that we built together. And I think now more than ever, especially in this last year, I've let so many things go by, that we weren't here to talk about. And and that sucks, because I I feel like I've I've let us down a little way, in a little way. But, yeah, I let it slip.
I got distracted by my own hustle by opportunity to make money and you know I let my business interest sideline sometimes what matters more than business and you know I know a lot of entrepreneurs think this, because I'm one of them, and I did too. And I used to think I could be apolitical, take the hands off the wheel, not pay attention, because, you know, politics really isn't gonna affect. It doesn't matter, you know, who's in office. It's not gonna affect my wealth creation. And I know a lot of business people and entrepreneurs think that.
But the reality is is it does affect my ability to not only create wealth, but to keep it. And without liberties and freedoms, it doesn't give me the ability to utilize it in the way that I see fit and so I I feel like you know I I stepped away in one of the most critical and crucial election cycles probably in our lifetime and you know without trying to be hyperbolic probably in the history of our country because shit's crazy right now. The news cycle is sped up You know, we've had the bait and switch with Kamala Biden. Trump has damn near been assassinated twice, and it's like just business as usual with our manipulating media and, you know, with the gaslighting from from them and the bureaucrats and it it it's literally been crazy town. And I wasn't there for it.
I wasn't here for it. I I wasn't another voice of reason to let you guys all know that you're not the crazy ones because you're not. You're not. They are. The the politicians, the media, the bureaucrats, they're the crazy ones.
It's not you. You know? It's and I know a lot of times we sit and think, man, we're raising our eyebrows and, like, you know, person our lips, and we're like, what the fuck is going on? You know? And and then we're like, yeah.
Am I the crazy one? And for thinking that this is stupid, I'm here to tell you you're not. And I'm sorry I wasn't around for the last year with all this crazy stuff going on. Not saying, hey, you're not crazy. Let's get down into the weeds.
Let's talk about it because you're not wrong for thinking the way that you're thinking. So I'm back and this time I'm more committed to this than ever. Like literally more fired up, more focused on calling out the nonsense that both parties throw at us. You know, I'm I'm back. I'm with you guys.
I will say, like I said in the last episode, you know, one of one of the benefits from stepping outside of politics for a little while and being that, like, person that just views it from the outside, it gives you new perspective. Like, you you're able to see things differently than you did before. And so I feel like I gained a lot of perspective over the last year. And and I think that's a good thing. Focusing on my business more allowed me to see how literally and utterly stupid, Excuse me.
I just burped. And you guys know that happens on this show. Right? Anybody? Anybody that's listened, I've told you.
Like, there's no editing. I hit recording go. You know? We just go. We just do the show.
So I apologize. And if you don't like that, then leave me a rating and review, okay, on on Itunes or Spotify. Let me know you don't like the burps. Just make sure it's a 5 star review, and then just, you know, put the comment in there. You hold the burps, and I'll I'll make sure I do that.
But, yeah, we just go. We just go for it. But I digress back to the show. Yeah. It it it, you know, running the business and and see like, trying to put the pieces together, it it really brings it all together and shows you how bad policies, in our government make how bad policies can make building a business and and and, you know, succeeding extremely difficult.
And going through the last year and seeing the economy take a shit, I mean, you guys are seeing it. Even if you're not a business owner, if you're just buying eggs, you're like, what the? I need a second mortgage just to buy some eggs and some bread. And not to mention, is it just me or are they making the loaves of bread smaller? Like, I swear the bread is smaller.
If I'm wrong, okay, But I don't think I'm crazy there. But it's like, you guys see it. Everybody gets it. And over the last year, I'm like, man, I I gotta get I gotta get back to speaking up and speaking out. It's crazy.
We gotta get back to talking about how the elite turds have tried to rig our system of freedom and liberty and open markets, to their favor at our expense. It's it's not okay. And we're not gonna be quiet about it. So what can you expect moving forward on the show? Well, more real unfiltered truth.
We're gonna talk about how neither side, not the democrats, not the republicans are looking out for our best interest. Neither one of them. They're they're literally different sides of the same coin. They're a uni party that has become more clear now than it ever has and we're gonna blow the lid off of everything they're doing. We're gonna talk about it.
We're gonna talk loudly about it. We're not gonna let it slide. So you're gonna get the same unfiltered truth that you've always got. I'm gonna dive into everything we've missed over the past year. We're gonna talk about the lies, the manipulations, the stupid legislation and executive orders and all the dumb stuff that has happened.
We're we're gonna talk about the Kamala Harris campaign and god bless bless god bless America, man. Jeez, Louise. You know what I'm talking about? You know what I'm thinking? We're gonna get into it.
Not in this episode, not in this episode, but we're you you know where I'm going with it, and we will get there. So just make sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't don't miss an episode. But we're gonna talk about it all. The gaslighting, the manipulation, the all of it that you guys are tired of I'm tired of we're going to talk about it so I'm also going to try to bring in more of you into this conversation I want to hear from you guys I I want you to be on the show you know those of you out there grinding trying to make a living trying to you know grow your business and grow your career trying to survive in the system that just literally feels stacked against you I get it and I want to hear from you because this this isn't just about politics right this up this is life it's about our lives and how our lives are being upended for the benefit of politicians and politics. So I want more of your voices.
You know, I'm back. I've found my voice again. I'm going to do the show. I need you to find your voice too and start speaking up and speaking out and speaking loudly and not taking shit off of anybody because we're done. We're not doing it anymore.
No. So I want to hear about you, your life, where your struggles are. Because guys, this is it's about the battles we face every day just to get by, just to build and grind and and do it. And these battles are getting harder and harder to win. And they're getting harder and harder to win because our government keeps getting in in the damn way of our success.
They they keep throwing bigger and bigger obstacles and roadblocks in our way. And we gotta be done with it. And we we have got to come together and speak all in one voice as loud as we can that we are not gonna take it. And I know that's a song, but you know what I'm saying. Alright?
So this is me. I'm here. I'm back behind the mic, and we're gonna do this thing. Now we're gonna talk. We're gonna fight for what's right.
We're gonna call out the BS wherever it comes from, whether that is a dem a republican an independent whether that's in congress or in your city council if there's bs out there we're gonna call it out and we're gonna organize we're gonna get grassroots organized because guys, it's not about just talk anymore. So I thank you for sticking with me. For those of you who reached out and asked where I was or waited patiently for this podcast to come back, Thank you. I haven't forgotten about you guys. I hope you're ready for what's coming because, frankly, we got a lot to talk about.
But, again, it's not just all talk because in the next few episodes ahead, I'm going to talk about some new initiatives that I'm rolling out to help with grassroots movements to taking back our school boards and our local city councils and our county commissioners and our townships because that's where it has to start. We have to get stronger at the local levels. We have to speak up louder. That is where we have the most effect in the fastest and most efficient time frame. Because if if our local politics are in our hands and and and operating and running the way we need it to be then we can really make significant change at the state level and then the federal level so we're gonna talk more about that and I've got some really, really cool initiatives we're gonna talk about on future episodes.
So make sure again, you subscribe so you don't miss out because it is time to band together. And yes, this is a podcast about politics and podcasts obviously are a bunch of talking but I'm done with just talk and I hope you are too it's time to start taking action and we're gonna do that But that's it for today's episode. I just wanted to kick things off by owning up to why I've been gone. But trust me, the next episodes, guys, we're gonna dive deep into the heart of everything that's going wrong with this country and how all of us in the middle of all this bullshit are gonna stand up and make our voices heard. So thank you for checking out this episode.
I'm glad I'm back. I hope you're back with me. I'm Justin Stating, guys. And until next time, stay strong, stay informed, and more importantly, stay in the fight. Till next time.
