Chapter 2

Two weeks later at work, it became apparent that QN, the new owners of the paper did not waste time in asserting their ownership. Every employee was given a buyout offer. The amount of the offer was based on years of service. The speculation was that some of the longer-term higher-paid employees who were nearing retirement age would accept the offer.

Paul knew he wouldn’t accept the buyout offer but maybe in some way he could benefit from those who did accept the offer. Clarence Thomson and Rene Gage who were two of the three newspaper’s opinion columnists both were in their late sixties. It had been rumored they were thinking about retiring. The consensus now was that they would be accepting the buyout offer. If they did leave that would result in only Tim Chapman being left to write that type of column.

In Paul’s opinion, Tim’s columns didn’t attract readers. Paul couldn’t say that Clarence’s or Rene’s columns did that either as they openly supported one particular political party that was now in power. The current opinion polls strongly indicated that people thought this present administration wasn’t up to the job. Even with that overwhelming public opinion, there were no opinion columns published in the paper that offered any criticism of the ineptness of that party or its leadership.

This political party appeared to condone violence because they were slow to condemn it. In certain instances, by not speaking out they encouraged violence. This administration cherry-picked the laws they wanted to enforce. Some of its members in Congress advocated in-your-face confrontations. This party constantly blamed everyone else but not their actions or lack thereof for the current problems or what they called “challenges.”

Paul thought this current situation in Washington was both funny and sad. The funny part was that this current political party in power blamed the other political party that was not in power for failing to solve the problems. The sad part of this was the voters who voted this party into office were reluctant to acknowledge that their doing that had them bearing some responsibility for these “unsolved challenges” this country now faced.

At the courthouse, Paul while covering the trial was thinking about how or what he could do in benefitting from what some people at work were calling a crisis. That terminology was what a politician had once used saying, “That you never want to let a serious crisis go to waste.”

In the evening at home, Paul came up with a plan which had him spend time writing three opinion columns. In the first column, he introduced himself as a new opinion columnist, and his column was called “My Two Cents.” In writing it, he explained he would be giving his opinion on many subjects such as politics, business, sports, and anything else that caught his interest. Paul gave a few teasers on what he would comment on. He said he would not be holding anything back in doing that. It would be the “straight story” that he would give in doing his commenting.

The second column he wrote concerned various celebrities and politicians who seem to crave publicity to support their inflated egos by making ridiculous statements. They for some reason think their opinions are of great importance on subjects like going green and gun control. Paul pointed out that they say one thing but then do other things like starring in motion pictures involving many shootouts. Some of them that are wealthy own private airplanes, yachts, and many cars, along with several large houses and they say we should take public transportation to work. That all goes to show they are hypocrites. He said they needed to get their heads out of their butts and see how what they are advocating affects everyday people who are just trying to make a decent living, protect and raise a family. Most families cannot afford to purchase an EV or have bodyguards that carry guns.

The third column he wrote was on term limits for members of Congress. He discussed the pros and the cons of having them and gave examples of a few members that shouldn’t be retained. He also gave examples of long-term members that were doing an excellent job. The bottom line however was that in his opinion some changes needed to be made. If an eight-year limitation is mandated for the President he suggested that there should be limitations for members of Congress of twelve years, and the term of a US Representative should be changed to four years. There should be established a length of service requirement for a Supreme Court Justice of ten years with an option for ten more years but with an age retirement limit as well.

He finished this last column by saying, “There should also be a time established of eight weeks before an election when campaigning for office can start. Nowadays, campaigning starts right after the last election which is annoying, wasteful, and hinders those in office from doing the job they were elected to do and that is my two cents.”

Having written these columns Paul gave some thought to how he should approach Stan Wright about giving him a chance to be an opinion columnist.

The next day after the morning meeting was over and after a coffee break, Paul knocked on Stan’s open office door asking if he could speak with him. Stan put down what he was reading and pointed to a chair.

“Have a seat and what is on your mind?”

“There is a rumor going around that Clarence and Rene are going to accept the buyout offer.”

“That’s no longer a rumor, they both now are composing their good-bye columns.”

“What are you going to do to replace them?”

“That is something I am giving some serious thought to.”

“Can I offer you a suggestion, with the suggestion being that it would be me who replaces them?”

Paul handed Stan a folder containing the three columns he had written last night.

There was a quizzical look on Stan’s face as he took the folder but he opened it and started to read the first column. When he finished reading the first column Stan remarked to no one in particular, “My two cents.” He continued and read the second and then the third column.

Paul could see Stan was finished reading and before Stan could say anything Paul said, “All I am asking for is just a chance. Give me thirty days to write these columns. Let me give my opinions and stir the pot of controversy and maybe attract some readership. To be honest with you, the paper’s columnists have been ones not to make any waves and they had a definite liberal bias. I want to give a fresh approach to show how both sides of an issue should be talked about and discussed. Let me give a complete perspective to all of the readers and not cater to just one side. What do you say?”