THE ISSUE
Change Partners by Kevin Fahy
We started this company during a presidential election year. It was 1984, and Ronald Reagan was running for a second term against the former vice president, Walter Mondale. One of my first editorials was about the upcoming election, and although I have long-since forgotten what I wrote, I recall speculating about the effects that a win by one party or the other might have on our industry. I did not endorse a candidate. Over the following eight elections I followed the same template, and my quadrennial essays seemed to be well received by our readers. Once in a great while, of course, I would get a little blowback. Basically, I could divide the letter writers into two groups. The majority were partisans who felt I was biased in favor of the opposite side. Most of them were relatively cordial, though a couple felt compelled to point out that I was a complete idiot.
They were about equally divided, by the way, as to whether I leaned right or left. The second group was smaller but no less passionate. They objected to the very idea of a political discussion in a trade magazine at all. Politics, like religion, was a personal preference that didn’t mix with business, we had plenty of more relevant issues to deal with, the whole subject was divisive, and so on. They urged me, sometimes indignantly, to mind my own business. The former group, which accused me of bias, didn’t surprise me in the least. We’re all biased, and I would never claim to be objective. What some readers don’t seem to realize is that they also have a lens of their own, and every lens causes some sort of distortion. Nevertheless, I am always interested in hearing what they think. (continued on page 5)
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