Matt Pierce Blog

10/02/2026

When people ask me who my "heroes" are I often say the early astronauts. But really, that is the easy answer. Guys like Dan Cogdell, Dick Deguerin, and folks like that really top the list for me. This was one of the best talks I have listened to in a very long time. It might be one of the greatest. I remember being a kid watching the Branch Davidians every single day and this name came up often in the aftermath. Nothing like it.

Today's episode Dan Cogdell shares lessons learned as a lawyer. Spe...

09/21/2026

This weekend someone asked me if I am a socialist. The short answer is absolutely. The complicated answer is not exactly. There are plenty of Americans worried about social protections for everything under the sun. That is good. But social protections are only as good as the people pushing for them.

Let me put it like this. When you live out here in a region where there is no shortage of poverty and there are more people in debt up to their eyeballs living off of a temporary oilfield economy, you have a problem. Eventually, that prosperity comes to a dead end. It always has and always will. Our rural economies function very differently than big city economies. This picture is not lily white and squeaky clean.

Out here, sometimes we have to give a little to help the family next door. It might be a ride, groceries here and there, or just a place to hang for bit. The biggest thing in places like where I live is not monetary capital at all; it is social capital.

It is telling a dirt poor kid with no lunch but good grades that a place like Baylor has room for you and money for you. That is what the endowments are for. It is pointing them towards the people and resources that move them forward socially. Sometimes that costs a few bucks here and there--but it is worth it in the end.

Out here being a socialist is less about economics but convincing those who can give more to do it. Schools like Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, and Trinity all have massive endowments that are made for guys like me and kids those who live here. Universities are often far more generous than we give them credit for. We as a society should be more that way.

Offering social capital and a few more tax bucks to help the kid or the family next door is just good common sense; because if they move upwards on the mobility scale, our nation does too and our world becomes a better place.

So, paying a bit more for healthcare for the poor or expanding food programs and anything that brings upward mobility to our communities I am all for it. If that makes me a socialist and a liberal instead of a capitalist then count me in. It why I have abandoned the GOP because I know there are far more practical social issues to workout than the big 5 "problems" that the two parties talk about. It is why I support candidates over parties.

If I say we need the rich to put their money where their mouth is then sobeit. If it makes me a socialist then sobeit. I do not vote my religious conscience because Jesus himself was a pretty damn good socialist and he and I get what the capitalist of the past 250 do not get. Go read and think about the New Testament forget the Jewish text of the old. Focus on Jesus and you'll see that he was a whole lot less American than you think.

A guy named Rich Mullins had that figured out pretty well. Socialism is not communism, it is genuine old world Christianity the way Jesus taught it.

Remember that as we go through this election cycle....also remember in Matthew 24 where Jesus said "For false christs and false prophets will arise, and will do great miracles and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, the very elect should be deceived." I think that over the past 250 a lot of very good Christians have been deeply taken advantage of perhaps they are being used by the GOP as bad as the working class was abused and neglected by the Democrats.

If all that makes me a socialist then count me in. Just do what is right, not what is popular or easy.

09/18/2026

I have been thinking a lot about Dr Jordan B Peterson lately and the progression of the persona over the years. As I understand it now, I wonder if this begins to make more sense?

Watching Jordan Peterson for years made me wonder what happens when audience, identity, and platform reward begin pulling in the same direction

08/29/2026

I've been listening to the new Billy Strings album "So Much For Goodbyes." This album has a lot of emotional power. There is loss, longing, and belonging wrapped up in a record.

For those of us who have left home, seen the bigger world, and then came back home looking for whatever "home" was, this album is perfectly produced for us to understand. It is a masterclass in the modern existence for all of us who have grown up too soon or maybe even too late.

There is not much to say other than it is a pure, raw, and respectable work of literary art.

Pre Order the latest album release "So Much For Goodbyes" Release Date August 28, 2026

08/26/2026

What are your honest thoughts on social media?

08/20/2026

The new project is live and here is your chance to support the blunt work of calling it like it is.

A profane and blunt view of the modern Texas evolution.

08/18/2026

One of the best talks ever.

08/18/2026

Isn't it time to pull out the splinter?

American Splinters: Essays on Rural America, Class, Politics, and the People We Keep Misunderstanding

08/17/2026

The interesting part for what I have been learning about this past week is that graduate education, especially a PhD, can actually become very Montessori-like when it's done well.

Think about a strong doctoral research environment:

-You increasingly choose the questions you pursue.
-You work independently for long, uninterrupted periods.
-Your adviser doesn't ideally lecture you every day; they observe, challenge, redirect, and guide.
-More advanced doctoral students help newer students.
-You learn by doing actual research, not merely studying research.
-You eventually move from structured coursework toward almost complete intellectual independence.
-The end goal is essentially: you no longer need the teacher.

That is remarkably compatible with Montessori philosophy, even when nobody calls it Montessori.

Where academia often screws this up is that the undergraduate-to-PhD transition isn't organized that way. Undergraduates are frequently told:

Take these classes → get good grades → take the GRE if needed → fill out applications → hope somebody picks you.

That's almost the opposite philosophy.

A Montessori-style higher-education environment would instead say:

"Here's the scholarly community. Here are the tools. Here are researchers at different levels of development. Start exploring. Find questions that matter to you. Work alongside people who know more than you. Demonstrate increasing competence. Ask for guidance when you hit the limits of your current abilities."

And that's actually why I think the idea being brought up could be much broader than we are realizing.

08/17/2026

The American affordability crisis is looming despite the prosperity we see on the internet and inside of the lives of people who need social acceptance. I want to explain this to you.