Why run for public office?

It’s an unfortunate reality in 2024 that public service has become so discounted among our fellow citizens – and, perhaps with good reason.

Governments are viewed as being overly bureaucratic, and unevenly managed. They are oftentimes inefficient, and hampered by the legitimate requirement for a slow and thoughtful public process and transparency.

And, they compete for very limited resources. To wit: government institutions are human, imperfect and needing to be re-invented on a regular schedule.

But for all their potential shortcomings, if done right, government can be a terrific partner to our communities and to our private sector, creating safe places to live and work, helping plan for opportunity, managing unforeseen calamities and community challenges, and generally setting a tone for a positive future where hope springs eternal!

I am a young 71 years of age – a child of post-World War II, brought up during the rancorous Vietnam era, raised to value hard work, volunteerism, appreciating diversity, shaking hands over a fence, and working in the community interest.

I was raised in a single-parent family. My family – my mom, my sister, Holly, and I – were fortunate in that we had a solid roof over our heads. I was fed and well-educated, and led an active lifestyle.

It could have easily been a more self-indulgent existence – but my mom was careful to sign us up for community events, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and countless after-school activities. We’d spend our Saturdays cleaning up around the bandstand in the town’s park; we’d run into the City to help less-advantaged families and kids deal with their difficult urban lifestyles. Our house was the place where folks would come to discuss and debate the future of our community. In short, our private lives intersected frequently with public activities and responsibilities – it was what I assumed to be the ‘natural order,’ working for a better life and along the way helping those who needed a hand up.

Fast forward to the summer of 2013, when I learned one afternoon that I was a cancer carrier – lymphoma was in my body, and for the next 8 months I experienced a tremendously difficult chemotherapy that forced significant changes in my life.

The early experience was terrifying, and debilitating. And yet over the next months, I came to appreciate some of the simple but inescapable values that the cancer experience taught me: that each day was very special; that humility is the key to enlightenment; that there was much to be thankful for.

Seated around me as I waited for my next infusion were many folks in a life-battle with cancer, and most handled their difficult days with poise and grace. I was reminded – as I am today — that there are many people who are needing help and support in this world, and that in helping others we help ourselves on whatever individual path we might choose to life fulfillment.

Government is a human invention – a structure of trust between a community of people based on a simple premise: “Let’s do together that which we can’t accomplish alone”.

Government embodies the idea of “a rising tide lifting all boats.”

Building expensive streets to deliver products and services is not what we would do individually, but acting together engages communities and private free enterprise, a recipe for creating wealth far exceeding any imaginable alternative method.

I also adhere to the prospect that government be limited; we convene government to accomplish certain things, but not all things. Government is an enabler, at times more appropriate working in the background, creating the conditions for citizens to have greater chance of personal and professional success. At other times, government is the creator, providing goods and services that are too costly or risky for any one individual or enterprise.

Government cannot be successful without an engaged citizenry that comes together in the ‘public space’ to redefine, and to recommit, to the common cause – a process that balances our passions, often with a commitment to fair and equal compromise that over time heals differences and values all voices.

After four terms in state legislature, I believe that good government matters: Do no harm. Work hard. Stop taking credit. Get on with the work, and finish the task at hand.

That’s why I’m running for Senate District 33 in this most beautiful state of Montana, my home sweet home.