Welcome to The Long Toss' second episode with Tucker and Jeff Fleming where we talk about a broad range of issues from sports and faith to service and politics and all the stuff that crosses a family's table that make life good.

In this episode we talk about public service recognizing Jeff's retirement from nearly 35 years of public to the mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a Member of Congress before that. We also spend some time talking about fatherhood and some questions Tuck has.

We touch on what we are reading and talk through some wins and fails too.

Finally, every few episodes we'll do a Mailbag to answer any questions you might have for us. You can email us at TheLongToss@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Resources -

We The People podcast hosted by the National Constitution Center. An interview between the Center's then-CEO Jeffrey Rosen, and best selling author Michael Lewis about his book Who Is Government, the Untold Story of Public Service.

From Lewis - "This is not a trivial thing. Part of what we are living through right now is a consequence of the disconnect between society and its government. People don't know where their tax dollars are going. There is no face on these people. It's very easy to stoke an ugly stereotype. And very easy to attack them because they don't defend themselves. They don't describe themselves and they don't defend themselves. And they live in a culture that we've created for them, where all attention is usually bad attention, so they avoid it. Nothing good comes from recognition usually. That may seem shrewd politically to some of the people running these agencies, but we pay a huge price for it. This lack of felt understanding of the value of government. and to the extent there was a social purpose to this it's like trying to break up this logjam in understanding and trying to introduce the idea in people's minds that government is not just essential, it is admirable. The kinda people that go into it - the best of them - are the best among us. They are givers not takers. They are not money people."

What we're reading: Jeff - The Traitor's Circle, The True Story of the Secret Resistance Network in Nazi Germany and the Spy Who Betrayed Them.