Big Think

Question: Who are you?

David Kuhn: My name is David Paul Kuhn. I’m a Senior Political Writer with Politico.com. And I’m also the author of “The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma”. Most of my youth was spent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I come from a long family of New Yorkers. I’m the fifth generation in this city of my family, possibly the sixth generation on one side. And my father especially was a New Yorker who wanted to get out of . . . raise his kids outside New York. And when I was in high school I would come here all the time. I spent many summers in New York City, and I always wanted to move here right away. And so I was really intent on going to college here. But because my mom taught at the medical college in Wisconsin as a geneticist, all Wisconsin state schools were free. And at the time I wanted . . . I didn’t wanna stay in Wisconsin, but it shaped me immeasurably to have stayed in Wisconsin through college because in a deep respect, I understand this country in a way I never could have if I was raised in the city, as much as I love the city; and especially because I went to college there, because they’re such formidable years between 18 and 22. So I think it really made me understand this country far better. Also one of my majors was World Religions, so I actually lectured the 101 Religions course which everyone would take. Because if you were a religious Christian, you’d have to take that to take New Testament courses. And if you were like a philosophy major and interested in like Zen Buddhism, you had to take that to take any Zen Buddhism courses. So you would get this amazing mix of students, at least half of which were truly Bible belt, bedrock Christians. And it’s an entirely massive slice of America I never would have understood if I would have simply stayed here.