Two New Ventures from The Liberal Patriot
The Long View and Free Agent Politics coming soon.
Greetings TLP readers! It’s been a few months since we closed up shop after more than five years of political analysis and various posts on elections, culture, and society. Hope everyone is doing well.
Today, we’re thrilled to let you know about two new projects from TLP’s creators that are starting on Substack next week.
First up, Ruy Teixeira and Michael Baharaeen are launching The Long View, a new project of Welcome. Too much political analysis today obsesses over short-term political stories and dynamics, rarely looking more than two years ahead at any time. But as discussed extensively at TLP, both parties—and the country, too—face bigger-picture structural issues that can’t be ignored, including the Democrats’ erosion of working-class support, the Republicans’ growing struggles with young women, both parties’ inability to build large and durable coalitions, ever-worsening tribalism and toxic polarization, growing social and geographic isolation, waning levels of patriotism, and more.
The Long View (TLV) will build on these themes, looking further down the road and even deep into the past, while also offering insights about the political landscapes of 2026 and 2028.
Among the themes of the new publication:
Politics without winners
The median voter
The merits of political moderation
Polarization and depolarization
Patriotism and civic renewal
The working class
Lessons from the 2026 midterm election and what the parties will (and should) look like in a post-Trump political world.
Ruy and Michael will continue to present their commentary and analysis in a manner that is pragmatic, intellectually curious, and open to a good-faith exchange of ideas while rejecting extremism, dogma, and reflexive partisanship.
You can expect the same independent voices that they brought to TLP.
Next up is Free Agent Politics from John Halpin.
Free Agent Politics is a newsletter focused on the values, attitudes, policy positions, and electoral behavior of America’s rising number of political independents.
Who are these independent voters? What do they believe? How do they view the two major parties and their candidates? Are they open to third parties? Where do they diverge from one another? On what do they agree? How do independents process complex public policy issues and make decisions in a two-party system?
Free Agent Politics is a newsletter for those who follow no party line or those who may be interested in other Americans who do not identify with either of the two major political parties.
Independents are not a uniform bloc of people. As discussed at TLP, there are three major types of independents based on available research and knowledge of this diverse group: about half of independents are common-sense moderates who don’t like the extremism and partisan blindness of the two major parties; another quarter are anti-status quo left- and right-populists holding a mix of more radical, ideologically diffuse, or other anti-establishment opinions; and the final quarter are disaffected and disengaged Americans who mainly do not pay attention to or participate much in politics.
Free Agent Politics will dive into each of these various independent groups and explore their attitudes and voting behavior over time.
The newsletter also plans to cover the world of actual independent political leaders and organizations dedicated to representing independent Americans and the structural political reforms that would support their efforts. Who are these leaders and organizations? Who do they claim to represent? What are the values and core beliefs of independent leaders and groups? What is their policy agenda? What is their strategy for building support and moving political reforms?
The newsletter itself is independent and has no outside funding or institutional affiliation. It’s just John’s research, analysis, and opinions offered directly to readers.
As subscribers of TLP, you will be automatically subscribed to both of these two newsletters at no cost to anyone with no future obligations. Please keep an eye out in your inbox (or spam and trash folders) or on the Substack app if that’s how you get posts. If you’re not interested in these new publications, you can unsubscribe through your Substack profile or at the bottom of the welcome emails.
Posts from The Long View and Free Agent Politics will start next week.
Thanks so much for reading and sharing TLP posts over the years. We really hope you like the new ventures and look forward to seeing you down the road.
Take care — John, Ruy, and Michael