My Cousin, The Conservative Pundit

A few weeks ago, my mother mentioned that my cousin Debbie's son Justin was a published writer. I haven't seen Debbie in years and I've never met either of her kids. But Debbie and I are the same age and spent a number of Thanksgivings together at our grandparents' house in Vermont. So while we aren't connected in the present, we've had connections in the past.

Anyway, I glanced through the URL Mom told me about, and realized Justin was a self-published writer. Not that there's anything wrong with that; most of us who write for the Web are self-published.

He's also extremely conservative. While his iUnverse bio claims:


Justin Haskins, a political science student at the University of Kansas, is an award winning poet and an up and coming political commentator. Currently the author of two books, his unique opinions and passionate commentating force readers to think outside the box and into the realm of debate. Using strenuous researching tactics and uncommonly known facts, Haskins is quickly becoming a much needed voice for a new generation of voters.

I, frankly, didn't see anything in his essays beyond the Clinton-bashing we've been seeing for over 15 years. I tried giving November in New England a read, but it was mostly too extreme.

I don't know if Justin and I will ever meet. While he was raised in New Hampshire, he's currently in college in Kansas. I know that, aside from my Mom's cousin Alice and my sister-in-law Rachel, I'm the family liberal. Justin is from my Dad's side of the family. My Dad has always been pretty quiet about his political leanings, though he probably generally votes Republican. My Mom has always been much more forthcoming about her distaste for Democrats. But, it is at least a little funny that Justin and I are at all related.