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Like everything else, you know some of the story, but not the real story:

Now that a few months have passed and you've had some time to reflect on your departure from the Times Free Press, do you wish that you had done anything differently?

I wouldn’t have done a thing differently. I was fired for doing exactly what I was hired to do: writing in a way that promoted free markets, individual liberty and limited government. The paper invented some silly story about me being fired for the headline of the Obama jobs speech piece, which was a funny little take off of the country song "Take This Job and Shove It," but that’s not the reality. I was told that, as the editor, I had final say over what went on that page, so the headline wasn’t the problem.

There were a few issues at play. First and foremost, some of the liberal higher-ups at the paper thought it was our obligation as a city to pucker up and kiss Obama’s rear since he was in town. Those people were embarrassed that I used the opportunity to criticize his policy failures. That was the biggest reason I was canned.

Second, a lot of people at the paper have a vision that the Free Press opinion page should be a voice of religion and social conservatism, but I am an economist and policy wonk, not a preacher. When I was hired, I was told that the reason they wanted me was because I am more libertarian, and they believed what I wrote would be more reflective of where the conservative movement and the Republican Party were heading. After I was hired, though, it became apparent that the paper would rather have some snake-handling preacher writing anachronistic, offensive, dopey editorials about how gay folks will burn in hell and marijuana is Satan’s way into people's souls.

Finally, the paper got a lot of pushback when I criticized EPB, the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and other shady agencies around town that don’t act in the public’s best interest and aren’t held accountable. When I explained how EPB scammed taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars for the smart grid but was never able to effectively provide the gig and failed to generate any economic benefit from all the money that was spent, EPB pulled its ads from the paper.

I know the paper was frustrated with losing money because I was willing to speak the truth about bad actors in the community. It’s too bad because there is no effective watchdog of those agencies in Chattanooga now. The TV news stations in town will never say anything bad about EPB, the airport authority and other outfits that advertise with them because they don’t want to risk losing ad dollars.

Ultimately, all three issues played a part in my firing. The headline played no part at all.