Earlham Echo

August 19, 2025

As I sorted through the mail one day last week, among the usual bills and junk was an envelope addressed to my wife, Jennifer. It stood out because it was addressed by hand and the return address was Winterset. It was the wrong size and weight for an invitation, so when I handed it to her, we were both intrigued. Who sends letters anymore?

She opened it later and the next time our paths crossed in the house, she said, ‘Guess who that letter was from?” I played along and answered with the first Winterset resident that popped into my head. She said, “No. Matthew Schwarz.”

She handed me the letter, and the salutation read, “Fellow Madison County Republicans.” It was a campaign letter for Schwarz’s run for Auditor. I thought, “Wait, I’m a ‘Fellow Madison County Republican.’ Where’s my letter?” Later when my sons Kyle and Quinn told me they also received letters, I felt snubbed. After all, I have earned much more conservative credibility than they have. Jennifer leaned Democrat until she met me. (I don’t claim to have rehabilitated her; that’s just the timeline of events). Kyle and Quinn are budding young conservatives, but they never had to endure the Carter administration like I did.

My Republican roots run deep. My parents’ first presidential votes were for Dwight D. Eisenhower, and they never stopped voting Republican. I was the last of four children. We grew up to have varied political viewpoints, but I was the only one that enthusiastically followed my parents into Conservative Land. I cast my first presidential vote for Ronald Reagan.

I moved to Iowa in 1987 and have been a registered Republican in Madison County since 1995. But—no letter for me. Have I been crossed off ‘the list?’ I wondered aloud, “What could have triggered this?”

Jennifer gave me the ‘you have to be kidding’ look.

“Oh, yeah,” I thought. “The Echo.”

As the editor and sole employee of The Echo, it can be difficult to keep up with all the news. But toward the end of 2024, I decided I should try to cover Madison County government more closely than I had previously. The new year started, and, well, I was afforded more material than I bargained for. The stories literally wrote themselves. Most of them involved drama surrounding Republicans. When people on the Internet reacted to what was happening, each side accused the other of being Satan or Hitler or both. But all I wanted to do was tell the stories—stick to facts of actual events and keep my personal feelings from creeping into the stories. I would rather write about football than politics, but I gave it my best shot—and will continue to do so.

Jennifer reads all my stories and helps keep me on a neutral path. Sometimes she comments, “Do you really want to say that?” and I respond, “Well, that’s what happened.”

Other people have offered comments about my political coverage. My favorite remark was, “I’m enjoying the sh-t out of those stories.” Another person gave me a verbal pat on the back and said, “You don’t try to tell me what to think.” I got a negative online comment saying a story I wrote was ‘biased,’ so I re-read it and thought, “Nope. I disagree.”

I feel like the comments have come from a wide range on the political spectrum, but I know that Democrats have reacted positively toward my work. Jennifer teased me once with, “So, you’re a Democrat now?” That stung. I have had many Democrat friends over the years—and still do. While I have disagreed with them on many policies, I respect their opinions. We’ve been able to have spirited, but civil, political conversations over the years and nobody was offended.

Until a couple months ago. When a long-time Dem friend of mine made a Facebook post with some photos of a No More Kings rally he attended, I had to taunt him a little. After all, the previous administration certainly did a few things that were at least borderline tyrannical. He could see that, right? Surely he wouldn’t mind if I pointed that out with a few sarcastic barbs. They were mild, I thought, but he subsequently blocked me from his Facebook page. I was also blocked from the page he maintains for his dog. Frankly, that one hurt worse, because the main reason I am on Facebook is for dog videos.

So, here I am. A man without a party. To my Democrat friends, with all due respect, I can’t go left. I’m firmly right. But does the Republican Party even want me? Have I been forsaken because of my reporting? Hard to say, but—with apologies to my friends at the Post Office—I’m going to assume my letter was lost in the mail.