Mark Hanson Commentary: “Denying Depravity”

Given the magnitude of the problems facing our country, it is no wonder that people cast their votes on behalf of hope the last two elections. We seem to need an antidote to despair. But we may also need to recognize that the politics of hope cannot succeed without taking account of those aspects of human nature that got us into this mess to begin with.

It is striking in this regard, then, to consider visions by progressives and conservatives for getting the country on track. James Gustave Speth, author of the forthcoming book America the Possible, sets forth a vision in which Americans shift values from consumerism to prioritizing relationships, from seeing humanity as separate from nature to seeing it apart of nature, from discounting the future in favor of taking the long view, from individualism to a powerful sense of community, and so on. He argues for a unified progressive community mobilizing to institute these values, as well as the social and political reforms that follow from them. The society he envisions abounds with jobs, equality, security, environmental sustainability, citizen-based democracy, and widespread prosperity. Speth bursts with optimism: [quote] “This recitation seems idealistic today, but the truth is we know how to do these things.” [end quote]

The conservative vision seems to boil down to this: If you want hope, get government out of the way. Less government and fewer regulations equal greater freedom for individuals and markets, and this clears everything up. Let families and religions handle moral education, and let people stand or fall on their own. Virtually unregulated corporations and small businesses will pony up the jobs to give us prosperity and drive down the debt. The market will take care of our needs and protect us from our ills.

While both visions tap into a fundamental human optimism about our capacities to create positive social change, they fall short on accounting for the greed, lust for power, and self-satisfaction that has created the world we live in now and medicated us into passivity and acquiescence.

But if these visions deny human nature, Derrick Jensen, in his essay “Democracy of Destruction,” gives it to us in spades. Jensen argues that we continually make choices that privilege our own comforts with little regard for their destructive consequences. For example, people choose rechargeable batteries in electronic devices despite the fact that they’re made from resources that finance wars and atrocities leading to the deaths of millions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Jensen believes that most people don’t even acknowledge they’re making such choices, which seem more like economic imperatives. Further, he concludes [quote] “It’s hard to make people care about something they receive tangible benefits from not caring about. This destructive democracy we share is a democracy where most people vote . . . with and for entitlements. . . . It is a democracy of, by, and for those who benefit from the wholesale destruction of the planet.” [end quote]

Perhaps it’s not as simple as that. But Jensen challenges us to look in the mirror and ask whether what is reflected there gives us any reason to believe that the progressive or conservative visions of hope make adequate concession to the darker side of human nature—those traits that led our nation’s founders to believe that a government of checks and balances was necessary to counter the selfishness of the people, both in and out of power. Drawing the implications of our human nature for government seems out of fashion. As columnist David Brooks notes, [quote] “Leaders today do not believe it is their job to restrain popular will. Their job is to flatter and satisfy it.” [end quote] Voters, meanwhile, largely demand entitlements for themselves, but not for others, without sacrifice.

So just at the time when we’re experiencing the devastating results on a planetary scale of human greed and passivity, we’re being offered visions that pretend such faults don’t exist, while we tolerate a kind of government that is no longer enabled to check our selfish impulses. Conservatives seem to want government to enable greed, rather than check it. Progressives want government to transform society without acknowledging our failures to care.

So when a political candidate offers you empty slogans such as less government, more jobs, tell them it’s not so simple. If they tell you they can give you what you want without asking anything from you, tell them that’s where our problems came from. Brooks is right: Only a reformed government built on restraining our worst impulses will offer us a way out. Only a government that is enabled to foster our best impulses can offer us real hope. As you vote in the upcoming primaries, fill in the oval for the candidate who at least offers the best chance to give us the government we need, if not always the government we want.

Mark Hanson is a guest commentator for the Mansfield Program in Ethics and Public Affairs at the University of Montana.

Hands-On Learning to Spark Girls Interest in Careers in Science, Math, and Technology

7th and 8th Grade girls build solar ovens to cook s’mores as part of the annual Expanding Your Horizons conference in Kalispell. The Conference aims to spark interest in math, science, and technology for middle school aged girls.

Helping spark girls’ interest in the fields of science, math, and technology is the goal behind Expanding Your Horizons. It’s an international project founded by California scientists in the 19-70’s who saw a need for more women in the sciences.

Decades later the effort continues.

Montana has two Expanding-your-horizons conferences aimed at middle-school-aged girls; one in Bozeman, the other at the Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell.

This year the Kalispell conference drew nearly 300 7^th and 8^th grade girls from schools all over the Flathead as well as Libby, Hot Springs, Troy, Thompson Falls, and Browning.

The local Soroptimists International chapter hosts the annual event. President of the Kalispell Chapter Diane Yarus says the day breaks up into a series of hands-on workshops with women in different science and technology fields, “we have a lot of medical oriented workshops, we have one on surveying- so we have a lot of alternative type of careers for girls, we’ve got one on wind power,” Yarus said.

They also have a workshop that focuses on women in the media- how women are portrayed, and how to recognize positive and negative images. Yarus says they specifically focus the conference on middle school aged girls.

“We do know that a lot of girls stop taking math and science classes in high school. That middle school time is a very critical time to pique their interest in math and sciences, and give them that real world example as well,” Yarus said.

Down the hall in one of the classrooms at FVCC students tear off strips of tape to put together solar ovens in one of the breakout sessions.

They’ve taken pizza boxes, cut a square flap out of the top, wrapped it with tinfoil, then covered the square hole with plastic wrap. Inside the box black paper is taped to the bottom with rolled up newspaper on each side.

8^th grader Tessa Coyle said the sun will reflect off the tinfoil, through the plastic wrap, onto the black sheet on which sits graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, “and since the black absorbs all the heat more efficiently, it will cook them,” Coyle said the newspaper works as an insulator to keep the heat in once captured.

Energy Policy Analyst Lauren Casey with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council is leading this breakout session.

“I’m teaching them about energy resources, and the fact that, as an energy planner, we evaluate how to meet energy needs from various resources while weighing various costs and benefits. So, I talk about traditional fossil fuel resources, and thermal generation, talk about hydro-power, and I talk a little bit about renewables,” Casey said.

She is also an alumna of the Expanding Your Horizon’s program, “and I remember thoroughly enjoying my classes on veterinary medicine, and forensic science, and there was definitely a connection between that day and my wanting to take more science classes in middle school and high school.”

Diane Yarus says that’s the goal of the whole program; sparking girls interest in some of the possible careers in math, science, and technology.

“Because we know their earning potential, if they pursue careers in those tracks, are going to be more lucrative for them, and so we really want to encourage them. And, you know, once they get to college, to find out that they really should have taken a more advanced math in high school can set them on a different path once they’re in college,” Yarus said.

Expanding your Horizons comes to the Flathead each year, at Flathead Valley Community College after college classes get out for the semester.

Flathead’s “Expanding Your Horizons”

Wildfire experts predicting ‘normal’ fire season this summer

Fire officials from multiple agencies brief Governor Brian Schweitzer Tuesday

Wildfire experts are predicting a ‘normal’ fire season for this summer.

Agencies ranging from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to the Montana National Guard gave their annual fire season briefing to Governor Brian Schweitzer.

Wildfires have already burned 30-thousand acres across Montana in 2012.

The Governor’s office says hot, dry weather this month is pushing fire risk in some areas to unseasonably high.

Meteorologist with Northern Rockies Predictive Services Mike Kreyenhagen says Montana did receive decent mountain snowpack this past winter. Still, he says the fire season depends on weather over the next few months.

“My official forecast is we are probably going to have a busy July,” Kreyenhagen said. “I think we’re going to see our typical start to our fire season. We’re going to get the grass fires out east, gonna slowly migrate north and west. If we get the rains in August and September we’ll be in fairly good shape. If we don’t, if we stay dry–I think we’ve got a chance to really pick up a lot of acres this summer.”

The Governor’s office stresses homeowners near wildlands need to do their part to protect their property even with fire crews at the ready. Officials ask homeowners to create defensible space around their homes by reducing flammable materials.

State hails recovery of fishery at Silver Bow Creek Superfund Site

Kennedy Elementary 6th Graders Saxon Walton and Desaray Blunt (back row from left) and Kelliann Neary, Nadine McDaniel, Mackenzie Coe and Alexis Miller (front row from left) stand by Silver Bow Creek Monday

State officials are celebrating a milestone in the restoration of a small creek near Butte. For 100 years, Silver Bow Creek was so polluted with mining waste it was considered a dead zone for fish and wildlife. A $120 million restoration effort began on the stream in 1999.

The fish are finally coming back.

6th Graders from Butte’s Kennedy Elementary School got to take an afternoon field trip to the banks of Silver Bow Creek for a big announcement from the Governor. Teacher Terri Daily’s class has been learning about Superfund sites for the last month.

These kids know their Silver Bow Creek history.

“Heavy metals or mining got into the river and polluted it. So what they did is cleaned it up and reopened it,” MacKenzie Coe said, summing it up.

That’s pretty concise and it’s largely due to one watershed moment. Severe spring flooding in 1908 washed Butte mine tailings into the stream and surrounding flood plain. Things like copper, arsenic, mercury–just annihilated aquatic life, plants and animals.

Bud Lilly (right) with Governor Brian Schweitzer

“I started coming to Butte Montana in 1929, as a little boy, this creek was just a conduit for contamination,” said legendary fly fisherman Bud Lilly—the man known for pioneering the catch and release fishing ethic and founding Montana’s Trout Unlimited.

“Did you ever think you’d catch a fish in here?” I asked Lilly.

“I didn’t think you could put your foot in, it would rot off,” Lilly replied, chuckling.

Silver Bow Creek runs into the Clark Fork River. The contaminants from that 1908 flood washed all the way down to a dam in Milltown. Decades later it led the EPA to declare the entire area the biggest Superfund site in the country.

All fed by this quaint little brook.

The corporate descendent of the old Butte mines, ARCO, settled with the state in the 90s to pay for the entire cleanup. The Silver Bow project has been massive—a feat of engineering. In order to do this kind of cleanup you literally have to reroute the entire stream. You dig out all the pollutants from the old bed and the flood plain, restore that, then move the creek back over.

The project is about 80 percent complete and life is finding its way into Silver Bow Creek again–animals and plants

Wearing tan chest-waders—Governor Brian Schweitzer seemed to be casting for both.

“And I got hung up on some weeds, which almost always–you see that weed? That’s what happens with a wooley bugger.”

Schweitzer came to the creek with Bud Lilly and representatives from several state agencies to announce an official comeback for the fishery here. It’s a low-density fish population of rainbow, brook and westslope cutthroat trout.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is putting in special fishing regulations for the creek—for the first time. They require anglers put back the cutthroat they catch. That’s fine with Bud Lilly, he’s all about this preservation stuff.

“That creek is more valuable than copper and gold because it’s clean, clear water, it’s feeding our main rivers,” he said.

“This will be a better river next year than it was this year and it’s a better river this year than it’s been for the last 100 years,” said Schweitzer, adding this will continue for generations. And the next generation in Terri Daily’s 6^th grade class seemed at least a little excited to cast a line themselves.

Sally Mauk talks with democratic U.S. House candidate, Dave Strohmaier…

Dave Strohmaier

Missoula city councilman Dave Strohmaier hopes he beats out the six other Democrats seeking the party’s nomination for Montana’s open U.S. House seat. In this feature interview, Strohmaier talks with News Director Sally Mauk about his progressive views on everything from women’s rights to climate change…and his new campaign ad supporting gay marriage..

Republican US House Primary: Vincent Melkus

Hardin’s Vincent Melkus says he believes the G-O-P’s presumed front-runner in Montana’s U-S House race, Steve Daines, is a decent person, but should not simply be allowed to sail unchallenged into the general election.
The 27-year-old Melkus was born in Texas, grew up in Arizona and says he’s worked in a number of different industries; a day laborer, construction, served 5 years in the Marine Corps., worked as a self-employed financial adviser. He recently earned a degree in business finance from Colorado Mesa University and says he’s currently working part-time in a sporting-goods store and writing an economic book for high school and young college students.
In tonight’s feature interview with Edward O’Brien, Melkus explains that as a Marine he took an oath to support and defend the U-S constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. And that, he says, is another reason why he entered the Republican U-S House Primary race.

Heather Margolis stresses civic engagement and collaboration in Democratic Primary for Governor

Heather Margolis poses for a photograph recently on Helena’s walking mall.

Helena Democrat Heather Margolis has been running a curious primary campaign for Governor against opponent and front-runner, Attorney General Steve Bullock. Margolis quietly announced her candidacy the weekend before the primary filing deadline. At that point, Bullock was unopposed and state law says without a challenger he would have had to refund any donations to his primary campaign. Now that he is facing Margolis, he gets to keep that primary cash to use whenever he wants on the campaign trail.

Heather Margolis meets me in Helena’s walking mall outside her husband’s office. He works at Strategies 360, a public relations company that represents many Democratic candidates. She works out of her home, raising the couple’s 3 year old son Bridger and doing some work for the Montana Education Partnership–which supports collaboration between schools and communities. Her campaign has given her the chance to get out and spread her primary message of greater civic engagement.

“I’ve had the opportunity to travel the state,” Margolis said. “I’ve had the opportunity to connect with voters and get my word out via the media.”

So far that’s about the only way voters have had the chance to learn about Heather Margolis. She does not have a campaign website or staff.There’s no phone number to call. She does have some Margolis for Governor yard signs and a Facebook page—where she only has about 70 fans. Margolis calls it a cost effective primary campaign, but latest figures show it’s about $300 in the hole. From the beginning, this has had political pundits doubting the legitimacy of her campaign, as a real alternative to Bullock.

“How do you convince those people that you’re taking your candidacy as seriously as possible and if they vote for you they’re voting for someone who really wants to see this through to the end?” I asked. She responded, “I think it’s become clear there are certain distinctions between Steve Bullock’s campaign and my own around certain values.”

She mainly means Bullock’s opposition to gay marriage, which she strongly supports. She is also against the Death Penalty, which Bullock supports. Margolis says this presents a moral compass for Democrats.

“People can send a message to the Democratic party about the values that represent our party,” Margolis said.

The economy and jobs have become a central issue in this year’s Gubernatorial race. Margolis says her jobs plan first and foremost calls for restructuring and investing in our public education sector. She says resources at K-12 schools and the state’s two year colleges need to be reorganized to create a more prepared workforce.

“In doing so,” she said, “we need to figure out what are we doing to tap into new, emerging energy markets, i.e. wind and solar.”

Margolis also thinks a job market exists in retrofitting buildings around the state to be more energy efficient. As for natural resource development, she wants it done in the most responsible way possible—minimizing environmental degradation. And she wants industry to shoulder a greater share of the cost of damage that is caused in and around communities.

“We can’t always be in a place where we are socializing risk and privatizing gains. We need to have a more balanced approach,” she said.

If elected, she says her first priority would be to bring down barriers between state agencies and local governments. Ultimately, though, she does not seem convinced she will have that opportunity.

“Do you see yourself making it past this primary?” I asked.

“I see the message that I’m trying to convey that service and civic engagement can play a vital role in supporting better collaboration between government and communities as moving past this primary,” she replied.

Democratic Attorney General Candidate Jesse Laslovich looking to be seen as passionate, family man

Attorney General candidate Jesse Laslovich plays with his son Cooper Wednesday afternoon

Anaconda native Jesse Laslovich started making a political name for himself at a young age. At 20 years old, he was the second youngest person ever elected to the State Legislature. He served two terms in the state House of Representatives before moving on to the State Senate. Laslovich has since served as an Assistant Attorney General, a special assistant U.S. Attorney and the Chief Legal Counsel at the State Auditor’s Office.

He’s now running in the Democratic Primary for State Attorney General.

“Hey! Wanna go again,” Laslovich asked his 3 year old son Cooper on Wednesday. Cooper loves this new slide at the small playground a block from their Helena home.

“With the nice weather we’re here probably if not every night then every other night,” Laslovich said.

This is the Jesse Laslovich the candidate himself wants voters to get to know–not only as a young guy who’s gotten stuff done, but as a family man. Cooper and his wife Jill feature prominently in his first campaign ad: In that ad, Laslovich also touts legislation he drafted creating stricter penalties for sexual predators and DUI offenders. Those continue to be priorities in his bid to be Montana’s top lawyer.

Here’s Laslovich speaking in a recent primary debate with his democratic opponent, Pam Bucy.

LASLOVICH: “What we have is simply not working when it comes to DUI’s, we continually read about 5th, 6th, 7th, I saw 11 DUIs,” Laslovich said during a recent primary debate with his Democratic opponent, Pam Bucy.

The Attorney General cannot enact new policies. But Laslovich says he would push on the Legislature to tighten DUI penalties. He calls consumer protection his top priority if elected–helping people who get scammed. Laslovich served as the head consumer protection attorney under Attorney General Mike McGrath.

“I still don’t think we have enough resources in the consumer protection office. It’s about education in addition to going after these companies I did it–I was on the ground doing it full time,” he said. He calls the Attorney General’s post a unique, multi-faceted position, from heading the Department of Justice to a seat on the State Land Board. And on that board, which sets policy for the state’s public lands and natural resources, he says the buzz words for candidates are responsible development.

“That’s a no-brainer, I say that too,” Laslovich said in the debate. “But it’s personal to me. You see what Anaconda’s like and what we’re dealing with. They are extraordinary people fighting through it, you see the Berkeley Pit in Butte. It’s really important that we do it right.”

He uses this phrase, it’s personal several times in this debate. This is also how Jesse Laslovich wants to be seen, as a passionate—hard worker.

“It’s about judgement,” he said at the debate, pounding on his podium. “It’s about the values you bring to the Attorney General’s Office, it’s about the work ethic you bring to the Attorney General’s Office and I’m here to tell ya there’s no one who has a better work ethic than me, I’m biased—I know.”

But when it comes to the values, the types of change Laslovich wants to affect, it more often than not sounds very much like what his opponent advocates. They both support stances taken by current Attorney General Steve Bullock on recent high profile issues like corporate campaign spending. Answers between Bucy and Laslovich during the 90 minute democratic debate almost mirrored each other many times. He doesn’t shy from that.

“We agree on a lot of things…a lot of times it’s been hard to find major differences, really,” he said.

He says their differences go to their backgrounds; Bucy has not served in the legislature and flatly says the Attorney General is not a legislative position. Laslovich says knowing the ins and outs of that lawmaking process is crucial.

“Hitting the ground running, working with the legislature, moving agenda, trying to get funding is really important. So I don’t want to be dismissive about the legislative experience,” he said.

Laslovich is hoping Democratic voters will also not dismiss that experience in this June’s primary election.

Campaign Beat May 18 – Chuck, Sally and MIke talk money and millionaires…

Chuck Johnson, Sally Mauk, Mike Dennison

In this edition of “Campaign Beat”, our weekly political analysis program, News Director Sally Mauk talks with Lee newspaper reporters Chuck Johnson and Mike Dennison about a court ruling on Montana’s campaign finance laws, how many millionaires are running in the U.S. House race, and the latest campaign ads in that race…

Kalispell School brings Blackfeet Teachings into the Classroom

Incorporating teachings on Montana’s tribes into the classroom is the goal behind the state’s “Indian Education for All” initiative. This year Hedges Elementary School in Kalispell embarked upon a school-wide effort with each class studying a different Montana tribe, combining all that information into a presentation, and sharing it with the rest of the school. Teachers involved say it’s a way for everyone, students on up through faculty, to learn good background information about the states unique tribes.

Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye takes us to hedges where 4^th graders are learning about the Blackfeet Nation.