A serious “progressive” candidate is expected run in District 1 against Nate Beason, the moderate Republican, and Sue McGuire, whom the tea party is supporting, according to my sources.
For some time, there had been speculation that the progressives would sit out June’s District 1 race — but “nope, it ain’t going to happen.” They want to rally around their own candidate.
Democrat Terry Lamphier has done a good job as supervisor, working well with the conservative board, they note. He also has done a very good job being independent minded and avoiding getting caught up in any decision-making that hinted of partisanship, they add. This cannot be said of the other “block” of conservative board members, they argue.
Though the final candidate has not been chosen yet, “progressive” supporters are culling through a list of possibles and holding discussions with them. (I do not want to put anyone on the spot yet, because the situation is still fluid).
From a strategic viewpoint, the progressives point to this: the tea party dividing the GOP between a tea party candidate (McGuire) and and a moderate (Beason) — just like in the national elections. (We’ve written about this many times before).
This could benefit the progressives, because half the registered voters in district 1 are Democrat (“progressive”) and the other half are Republican (Beason or McGuire). It’s the “50 percent plus 1″ rule to get elected.
Though Beason will capture some Democrat votes — he has done a good job — he also will lose some Republican votes to McGuire by far right ideologues who had supported him in the past.
Even the county Contractors Association could end up endorsing McGuire (developers are mad at Beason for voting for the airport plan). McGuire also could get some “out of town” money, as well as some hard-ball consulting (as Sue Horne did when running for assessor). The hard right plays hard ball, as we all have noticed recently.
Beason, on the other hand, is expected to benefit from the endorsement of other supervisors — at least Ted Owens and Hank Weston. (Watch to see whom Ed Scofield, who also is running, endorses — or whether he “sits out” an endorsement).
Ed himself is running, and is expected to face a candidate who opposes the Rincon Del Rio project.
Ted also is running for re-election but is expected to face no serious opposition.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I guess I’ve played the political game in Nevada County as long as most, so “progressives” please hear what I am saying.
You are going to elect a Tea Party candidate if you keep on going down this “run a progressive against Beason”. Beason is well liked among Democrats as well as Republicans and by running another moderate against him you are going to split the progressive vote right down the middle and guess who that elects? Did I hear “Tea Party”? Well, golly, if you are going to cut off your nose to spite your face, you are doing one hell of a good job of it.
Put your efforts into defeating a couple of the real righties on that Board. Using your resources against Beason is just going to blow up in your face. Please, as one who sat on that Board for eight years with never a progressive majority, I know of whence I speak. Get Beason some help, not put a person one step to the right of Attila the Hun in his place.
Thanks,
Jim
Jim,
Interesting, so what you are saying is that moderate conservatives have more common interest with progressives than with the tea party brand of politics.
That is a point that Jeff has long made on this blog! I wonder if that will be a common theme in elections next year.?
Jim,
Thanks for your comment. Sorry it was in “moderation,” because I was up in Truckee/Tahoe all day. Cheers.
This is very good news. So Jim when is a good time?
When is a good time for what?
Jim
When is a good time for progressive candidates to challenge sitting supervisors?
Ben,
I don’t think that Jim is talking about timing, but rather tactics: His point would be that you should go after the MOST conservative supervisor not the one closest to your positions.
John
John,
I am also talking about tactics.
I think Nate Beason is a good supervisor. He is a good listener and not an extremist.
I don’t think Beason will lose to a TEA extremist in Nevada City but, as Jim Weir said, a TEA extremist could win as a result of a split “progressive” vote.
Decent, honest, charitable, hard working people are extremists to you people? No wonder our government is in trouble.
Bonnie,
You people? What does that mean? One person said extremist and I disagree with many who posted on this thread.
Everyone,
We need progressives running in election, in every district, and in every state. How is a progressive candidate going to split the progressive vote against two conservatives? Actually the progressive between Beason and McGuire is the latter. Progressive means reform ***. This fear of the other has to STOP. We should vote our conscience and only until we figure this out will we get the government we want and deserve. Do you want to know why our reps are all over the place? We never let them know with our votes what we want. We tell them every election no matter how much you (rep/ gov) ignore my needs/ wishes I will vote for the lesser of two evils.
*** Progressive – favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters
Hi Bonnie, No need to go “momma grizzly” here. I do not know Sue and don’t mean to say she is a bad person. But the TEA “party” is seen by many as a polarizing organization.
Remember when the BOS was attacked and derided for proposing Hwy. 174 be designated a scenic corridor? Back then, those supervisors were attacked as an extremist “gang”.
With local economic conditions being what they are, I think the supervisors (and their constituents) are well aware that everybody feels they are “Taxed Enough Already”. My impression of what has been happening at the county level is that budgets, programs,and staff have already been cut.
If the GOP is recognizing both Beason and McGuire as candidates, the candidiate that is supported by the TEA party is going to be seen as the more “radical” candidate.
When someome uses “YOU PEOPLE” while trying to make a point there is no need to consider what that person has to say.
“YOU PEOPLE” is very telling.
When someone uses a big B.S. false claim set up that “YOU PEOPLE” think “Decent, honest, charitable, hard working people are extremists” and then goes on to claim “No wonder our government is in trouble” it sure is very telling.
Sorry Bonnie, but no Tea Party board member is going to be elected in D1… seems someone needs to study the voter information of D1 and the voter history of D1.
Steve,
That may be true, but perhaps the Tea Party is putting into practice what Ben says that we need: Good candidates running EVERYWHERE.
Next year could bring some real surprises. Are the Supervisor races in June? If they are, then it might be the entrance of another “moderate” candidate that saves Beason who could lose in a one-on-one battle in a low turn-out election. Remember, not only do the democrats NOT have a presidential race, but they have moved all the initiatives to November.
John
John,
Exactly, let the Tea Party run candidates in the republican party or better yet form their own political party. The more ideas out there the better.
IRV
http://www.fairvote.org/instant-runoff-voting
The Nevada County Green Party will be bringing this idea to the county in the future.
Supervisors are elected in even-numbered years, first three and then the other 4. Primary races are in June and if a runoff is necessary then the runoff is in November. No runoff, then the winner is a “Supervisor Elect” until the following January, leaving the lame duck (if there is one) to do a hell of a lot of damage in the ensuing 7 months.
Thanks,
Jim
Jim,
To win a primary does it need to be a majority or can a plurality result in a Supervisor Elect?
If it needs to be a majority how does your opinion of not running a progressive hold water. I seriously doubt that McGuire would find herself with a majority.
It’s a majority. That means that with 3 candidates, with two Republicans and one Democrat your likely to see a November race.
By the way-more democracy, more democracy, more democracy!
Tea Party doesn’t like the way things are going? Run candidates and stand on a platform of issues and let the chips fall where that will.
Same with progressives.
But guess what? Most people agree more with the progressive agenda than Tea.
Steven,
Ah, but in the discussions that I have seen the items on the progressive agenda that are actually popular, are pretty much borrowed tea.
John
John, I seriously think that you just make things up as you go along.
The liberal agenda for reform long presages the Tea nonsense. It includes campaign finance reform, limits on lobbying, decentralization of power in financial institutions, opposition to government intrusion into private information, fair trade, and a laundry list of other reforms, going back decades, that were well established and thought out before the Mecklers found their Nuremburg voice.
Steve,
So let me go down your list: Many Tea Party folks want to return to Constitutionally limited government which solves the problems of both campaign finance and lobbying: IF the government is not making the decisions there is no need for money to chase the decision makers.
Many Tea Party folks stand with Congressman Paul in wanting to abolish the federal reserve and a return to a sound currency which would certainly decentralize the banking institutions and eliminate the need for any future bail-outs.
I will grant you that conservatives have been slow to join the bandwagon when it comes to government snooping, but again Congressman Paul has been there from the beginning.
We could debate what free trade means, but both sides are opposed to the current “trade agreements.”
While the progressives can cite their stands going back a little over a hundred years, I think that Mr. Meckler would say his come from the era of the US Constitution and I would point people back to the Scriptures for such wisdom which goes back several thousand years.
John
Steve,
Agreed, agreed, agreed. We need more democracy not less.
So tell me again how this would hand the position over to anyone?
I don’t think it would hand the Supervisors seat over to anyone. Admittedly, I know district 5 better than 1, but it seems to me that Nate is a solid centrist Republican on most local issues, perhaps leaning to right of center (and I think that most Americans deviate only by a few degrees, like perhaps 20, from 180 degree center to the left or right on a 360 degree circle), and Ms. McGuire probably lands at the right edge of that 45 degree arc of American political variety. The addition of someone closer to the left edge, if they run a smart campaign, focused on local issues, proposing pragmatic and collaborative solutions, and avoiding being a cartoon characterization of liberalism, could very well win in the June election.
Voters are looking for a change, know we need to try something new, are rapidly tiring of TP obstructionism, and are actually more “progressive” than our current leadership. I think Nate and Sue may well split the Republican vote, with Nate taking a chunk of the DTS vote, and an articulate independent minded Dem could get the lions share of DTS and the Dems.
But I am 100% with you here; make it a contest of ideas and we represent the majority.
Please port this to another thread. This is about district 1. I too was at the MM event and this clown trying to get some free press by shouting out how he was a candidate in district 1 just completely turned me off.
Jim
Haven’t run for any political office, have you sonny? When you do, please come in here and tell us about it. Nobody with a “smart campaign” will do squat other than strip votes away from Beason. Use your head.
The real problem we lefties have is that our supporters live in a never-never world where everything is black and white. “We are ALL left or we are ALL right and the devil take the centerists”. Well, the devil WILL take the centrists unless we can figure out a way to re-elect the folks closest to our ideals and put maximum effort into defeating the true Neanderthals in office.
Thanks,
Jim
Jim,
I don’t know who you are but am getting the feeling that you are part of the problem. So you think McGuire will pull over 50% if a progressive runs? Please expand on how this will happen.
Not sure I want to get into this debate with a guy who starts it out by calling me “sonny”, but I have engaged in more than one political campaign in my beloved Nevada County since moving here more than 25 years ago, including running Barbara Green’s winning campaign in 2000 where we took on a conservate and republican who positioned themselves as a moderate and won with 53% of the vote.
I was not trying to argue against your point Jim, I was merely pointing out that a well run campaign, that relies on hard work on the ground, sticking to local issues, that does not fall into the dialectical political trap, and that leverages the political aspirations of those that define themselves as in the middle, could win. Everything depends upon having the right candidate.
Since I don’t know which candidate we are talking about here I have no way of predicting if they could be successful.
Perhaps someone could be kind enough to enlighten us on who that candidate is?
Jim,
Ben and I have both run for office and we both think the more the merrier!
John
Steve,
Talked with the Progressive running against Owens tonight at the MM event. Very passionate guy and has an interesting idea about that you might like.
Ben, who is running against Ted?
Barry has it correct Michael Rogers, and he has an interesting idea about a jobs stimulus that allows for local government control the money supply and contracts. It is sort in the same realm of State Owned Banks but more citizen controlled/ oriented. It would almost impossible to implement with the status quo but we are heading towards a great shake up and possibly then it can get some serious thought and discussion.
It sounds like it is somewhat based on this idea.
Yes, Mondragon is one example of Common Capital, the John Lewis Partnership is another http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/en.html. These two companies have combined annual revenues of over $20 Billion and are owned by 160,000 working partners.
These are actually more conservative ideas that are being put forward by the right. It is capitalism with democracy mixed in. The John Lewis Partnership calls it “Industrial Democracy”. It is about local control, self-sufficiency, small federal government, fiscal responsibility, and communities coming together to solve their own problems without interference.
Barry Pruett called me “far-left”, but I see the policies of his wife’s employer Mr. McClintock as far-leftist corporate socialism where they have privatized profits and socialized risk. Isn’t that exactly what Mao, Stalin, Castro, Ortega, and Chavez did?
Advanced Stage Capitalism as practiced by Republican party (as opposed to Early Stage Capitalism where the market is still relatively free and enterprises have not grown so big as to stifle competition thru political connections) to me looks exactly like Advance Stage Communism where an elite politburo of unelected despots control everything, and individual liberty, freedom, and vibrant and healthy local communities are sacrificed to their personal whims. I love capitalism, it is monarchs and tyranny of which I am not so fond.
Michael,
I like your ‘advanced stage’ and ‘early stage’ labels. This is something I have been trying to explain to Ben and others for some time. We have not had any really free markets in a hundred years in this nation and it is starting to catch up to us.
John
Thanks, John. The reason I don’t think the “far left” label fits me is because I think that the left has forgotten how to hunt. They don’t realize what it takes to make a payroll. Their attitude of “oh, business can pay for it” combined with the rights’ unquestioning defense of all the excesses of the huge corporate socialists (who purchase politicians to isolate them from consequences that every small business person faces) has made the small business person an endangered species.
I have run a business, and I put my heart, soul, marriage, retirement accounts, and sanity into making it a success only to be hit by Osama Bin Laden, Credit Default Swaps, the Koch Tea Party’s game of Chicken with the full faith and credit of the United States of America, and finally, ironically, was put out of business by the Freeway stimulus construction on I-80 — they shut my off-ramp down for a month and sometimes required a 20 mile detour for my guests to get to the Boreal Ski Area and my revenue dropped 45%. All things completely out of my control.
I struggled relentlessly to succeed in the face of hostility from almost every branch of government. One county employee told me that “if you can’t afford our fees, maybe you should go out of business.” This from a county employee who’s salary I literally paid — I took a piece of land that they made $2k a year in taxes on to a business that generated close to $50k into the county coffers. I was almost 25% of the county’s total TOT tax revenue. And it goes on and on.
Ted Owens couldn’t even find the time to get me a Lodging Next Exit sign, despite repeated requests — but he could find the time to get Art Chapman a $6 million tax free municipal bond backed by the full faith and credit of the people of Nevada County to build a hotel, in a saturated room market, that no sane bank would fund, to compete against me. I wonder if that had anything to do with the close to $50k in donations he got for his last uncontested campaign from Mr. Chapman, his family, executives of JMA Associates, and connected businesses. Is that even legal?
It is too late for me. But I am running for the 5th District Board of Supervisors of Nevada County to insure that those who work hard reap the benefits of our society and not, in the words of Warren Buffett, that “the great positions in society go to those born of the right womb”. Ralph Owens once said to me with derision that his son was “playing supervisor” as he, Owens senior, ran the family construction company. Well, play time is over Ted — and, by the way, you won’t have my business to threaten this time around.
Barry, do I still sound like a far lefty Prius driving tree hugger to you now?
Michael,
I try not to meddle too much in the local issues up there [except that I can't resist talking about the mine everyone loves to hate] but it sounds like you could earn my vote!
I fear that you “freeway exit” story is repeated far too often. Here is an area of society that we all agree the government should handle and yet they have so little understanding of business that they struggle to do proper cost analysis.
Recently they had to re-do the section of Interstate 5 that passes by Old Sacramento because it is actually below the water table and has a massive drainage system that needed to be replaced after fifty years. The CalTrans plan would have had this section of freeway “under construction” with major lane and exit closures for over 18 months. It would have cost the Sacramento economy millions if not tens of millions of dollars [to say nothing of the environmental damage caused by all those traffic jams!].
Along comes the contractor who rebuild the Los Angeles freeways in record time after the Northridge earthquake with a better plan: Basically close one side of the freeway at a time for a day or two and he was able to have the entire project done in less that six weeks with less than two days of closure on either side which people were to make plans to avoid.
John
It is amazing what a little sympathy for what it takes to run a business mixed with a dash of common sense can do.
John,
I get early stage and advance stage concept but we have to ask ourselves who have been the biggest advocates for convoluted structure? This is something we agree on and I guess it proves government is the problem but BIG business has captured our elected officials, the committees they sit on, the regulatory agencies, and the enforcement arms that are supposed to allow justice to happen.
Michael:
All I know about this situation is what you write here. To be honest, I don’t have all that much sympathy for the off ramp situation you describe. Here is why.
As I understand it Caltrans built an off-ramp some decades ago, and then you (or the previous owner) built a ski resort/lodge to take advantage of the offramp. Some decades later, Caltrans closes the off-ramp for a month in the summer to repair it so that your customers can continue to visit the following winter. You lose some business during the summer off-season, sell off, blame the county, and run for Supervisor so you can somehow rectify the situation. Compounding your situation is that you want to defeat the current supervisor who has given some kind of advantage to one of your competitors who is also giving major campaign contributions to Ted Owens..
I know that there may be more to this story…what am I missing?
Tony
Tony,
I think you may have missed your calling in life as a political consultant!
John
I am not trying to rectify anything. It is too late for me.
This is an equal protection issue. The point is that Caltrans would never have closed any offframp in Truckee for a month, with a 20 mile detour. They could have simply laid some temporary asphalt so that my business was not effectively closed. The decision was made that the added expense of accommodating me was not worth it. And, it was not merely “some business”, it was a 45% drop in revenue that I was not able to sustain.
The attitude you express is exactly the problem. The little people do matter and the actions of government should not operate on a cost/benefit analysis that decides one business on a lone offramp does not require the same consideration as Northstar/Squaw Valley Ski Corp/or the “important businesses”. This one experience was merely a part of my education, and will inform how I would attempt to govern, if given the privilege of serving the citizens of the 5th district.
We deserve a government that has “all that much sympathy”. We can no longer abide a system that has one set of accommodation for the rich and powerful and not “all that much sympathy” for the rest of us, and the offramp issue is only a helpful illustration of what I see as a systemic problem — like the CHP writing a vastly increased number of tickets in a tough economy for what may of us see as an attempt to balance the state budget and cover their $4 Billion pension shortfall.
I sincerely hope that you are not in a position of power over us. I really don’t mean this disrespectfully, however, I must say that you exhibit the classic attitude of a government employee who has never had to worry about cash flow, or ever had everything you ever worked for on the line.
My campaign is not about what happened to me. That experience gave me a visceral “sympathy” for all those not fortunate enough to receive government paychecks and I want to instill a culture of “customer service” and eliminate the creeping “insolence of office’ that has no sympathy for real “job creators”.
But on the positive side, I primarily want to find the resources needed to help create opportunity and to identify the impediments to the success of “We the People”, so that we can save the middle class and build an economy that is fair, abundant, and sustainable.
Michael:
Yes, I am a government employee–I am a professor at Chico State. I am also glad that I am not a small business person. They are important in society, but I don’t have the talent or inclination for that. I am quite content to work for a predictable salary which I will spend with small and large businesspeople. There is no chance that that salary will ever by huge, but it is true that I get employment security in exchange for giving up the chance to make it really big financially. I’m ok with that, and appreciate that others do other things.
Having said that, I do question your assertion that government workers are not “producers.” Caltrans, which frustrated you to no end in the small picture, int he big picture has created an impressive network of roads which means I can drive from Truckee to the Mexican border without hitting a pothole. This facilitates commerce all across the state. My students at Chico State (who indeed I do supervise) go on to find good middle class jobs in both the private and public sectors. Indeed, employers even pay a wage premium to them because they have a Bachelor’s degree, and are presumably more productive (on average) than those without.
Anyway, good luck with the campaign. I admire your gumption in getting out there and raising issues in the public sphere where you will be challenged by people like those on Jeff’s blog!
I am sorry if I implied that Caltrans is not productive. I am very grateful for the road and was looking forward to have it repaved — we called the slow lane the OHV lane because of the deep ruts that throws your vehicle around from lane to lane. As Supervisor however I would have gotten actively involved from the planning phase to make sure all businesses, small and large, received sympathetic ttreatment from the contractor.
Oh, yeah. I also think that the true job creators are teachers, because I can’t think of a single job that was not created by a teacher. I don’t resent government employees, I just think that some could be a bit more sympathetic to those of us without pensions, healthcare, and steady paychecks who generate the initial tax dollars need to keep the system going. Because that big private sector payoff for small business people is getting more and more elusive. So, you keep training them and I will try to make sure that there are jobs for them when they get out.
Michael Rogers
Que?
I wonder what local Truckee “electeds” will endorse Tom McClintock for the sliver of our county that will still be represented by him under redistricting?
Jeff,
Most local “electeds” do not endorse Congressman McClintock because he does not play the money game. It is the same reason that he gets the smallest amount of Washington PAC money.
Amazing how he has gotten by all these years without the big name endorsement and PAC checks: I guess all those small checks and votes mean that most of the people in the middle really do like him.
John
When they see the excellent candidate we have in Will Moore they will realize that they will need to pick which party they support or risk being alienated from this strongly Democratic District and the three branches of state government and the three branches of federal government we will control in 2013. Will is practical, well spoken, non-politician — a retired crab boat deckhand and heavy equipment operator who believes that we owe retired Americans a decent quality of life in their golden years and that government can be used to create jobs.
Career politician and nationally funded Mr. McClintock underestimates him at his peril.
WillMooreforcongress2012.com
John,
I’m working with my son on his book report, so I would like to limit my response. Tom receives campaign contributions from the Bankers Association, Comcast, Realtors, AT&T, etc.
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=2012&cid=N00006863&type=I&newmem=N
Local “electeds” aren’t too fund of him because he is a partisan ideologue. Most of their problems are nonpartisan and require a nonpartisan, pragmatic approach.
Jeff,
I did not say that Tom gets no endorsement or PAC money!
When you have the time compare his take from PAC with all of the other members of congress.
By the way, your son’s book report is the right priority.
John
That’s how our family operates. The book is “A Wrinkle in Time.” For some reason, my mind has been fixated on juvenile science fiction lately. LOL!
John,
There are ways to receive huge amounts of money and have it come from individual donors. Unfortunately for the fourth much of Toms money comes south the district he is supposed to represent. Our campaign refused any donation that was not a individual (straight from their bank account or pocket)
http://www.opensecrets.org/races/pacs.php?cycle=2010&id=CA04
John,
The out of state money I received was in kind donation. A friend did my website as a donation to the campaign.
Ben,
As I am sure that you know, in a congressional account all donations have to be from individuals or PACs. Tom is among the top ten recipients of small personal donations and in the bottom ten for PAC donations. I would think that would be right where you would want your representative to be.
John
Not a single major contributing town/ county came from within the district.
LOS ANGELES-LONG BEACH $118,237
SACRAMENTO $96,125
ORANGE COUNTY $88,675
SAN FRANCISCO $44,375
SAN JOSE $44,000
Who are those mysterious out-of-the-area folks supporting good old Tom- wealthy relatives?
Ben,
You forget that Tom has run statewide four times including a recall election that had the attention of a presidential run. He has supporters literally from all over the nation.
Do you have a problem with this sort of populist support?
John
John,
I have a problem with outside money playing such a huge role in our elected representative who has never lived in our district. I think our campaigns for elected officials needs to be publicly funded after a certain threshold, period. When signature and small donation requirements are met then a candidate qualifies for the funding. Another example was Arnold going to other states to raise money to run for governor of CA. This again gives great advantage to those who have accumulated great wealth and can influence policy nationwide in their interest not necessarily the people of the districts. The interests of the CA 4th are much different than Orange County or LA County.
Ben,
This is why full disclosure is so important: People need to know where the candidates are getting the money to send their message. They should also be smart enough to know that why they hear from “Firefighters for XXX” or “Citizens for YYY” that these are special interest groups, not a group of innocent citizens.
John
Jeff,
Wrinkle in Time is a great book. We read at least two or three of the series with our kids. Then Harry Potter hit the shelves and we have been hooked as a family every since.
Yes, it’s a classic from the ’60s. Newberry Medal winner (award for children’s books).
Wrinkle was one of my all time favorite books as a kid. Then I discovered Robert Heinlien and Isaac Asimov and I was off to the races.
John,
I am finding it very interesting the conversations I am having with those on the right who claim to believe in decentralization of power. Money is power.
Ben,
Unless it runs up against the power of an idea based on truth: Who had the most money: England or the Colonies?
John
John,
Here is the funny thing about that very concept. The US funded its revolution with paper money through their own banks. At that time counterfeiting was so easy the british just sat offshore and flooded the colonies with counterfeit currency which led the founders to shy away from it when writing the US Constitution. There is a long unfavorable story about George Washington in here but will leave it for another day. Without local owned banks and local currencies the stamp act, tea act, and so on wouldn’t have been implemented giving the crown oppressive powers over the colonists. Debt had to be paid in the currency of the crown or gold, which the agrarian colonists did not possess. Banking had a huuuugggggeeeee role in the revolution.
But in all honesty, which I find ironic that the right wing talking heads use the french revolution as examples continuously, without the French’s help plummeting them into debt our success against the British couldn’t have happened. I know this is very simplified but is a part of the big picture.
I belong to the Public Banking Forum here is a video about this topic
Ben,
Appreciate all the great history, but England did have a lot more money!
I certainly appreciate the help that the French gave us, even if they had ulterior motives and later went with godless revolutionaries in their own country.
I also agree with almost all the problems that you and the video point out with the banking systems past and present. BUT here is my major concern: We know what private bankers using the power of government have done to our financial help… Can you even imagine what a bunch of politicians would do? Think about it.
And finally, I hate to bust the punch line of the video, but it is not the state bank that has brought wealth and prosperity to North Dakota, it is OIL. Might make some of you want to reconsider that gold mine again.
John
For your sake, John, I hope you weren’t foolish enough to buy Emgold stock.
Jon,
I didn’t and I also did not buy Martha Steward stock when my lovely bride said to buy it for a dollar.
John
So…talking the talk but can’t back it up with walking the walk? I would think if you were foolish enough to keep supporting the mine, you’d ‘buy in’.
Jon,
As if I have any money to invest
The main reason that I do tweak everyone her about the mine is that I do believe it is important that we support our local communities. As such we have chosen to live in the inner-city and do the best we can to support those who try to build businesses here so there can be more jobs and opportunities.
John
Jeff, I would appreciate it if in future posts I’m identified as “declined to state”. Ideological divisions are just that…divisions.
Good ideas can come from anywhere (as well as bad ones).
Thanks.
Thanks Terry. A decline to state registered voter, OK. A supervisor who got elected by the efforts of Democrats and “progressives,” not the conservatives, yes. How about we split the difference?
John,
Here is some history of the Bank of North Dakota. The problems they state are those of railroad barons having monopolies and trusts preventing them to do business until they took control over their own money supply.
http://banknd.nd.gov/about_BND/history_of_BND.html
“Bank of North Dakota History Farming in the early 1900′s
During the early 1900′s, North Dakota’s economy was based on agriculture. Serious in-state problems prevented cohesive efforts in buying and selling crops and financing farm operations. Grain dealers outside the state suppressed grain prices; farm suppliers increased their prices; and interest rates on farm loans climbed.
By 1919, popular consensus wanted state ownership and control of marketing and credit agencies. Thus, the state legislature established Bank of North Dakota and the North Dakota Mill and Elevator Association. “
Michael, I’ve been following the I-80 Catrans reconstruction project for some time, since it has a major impact on the regional economy. I am truly sorry that it caused such a hardship for your business, and admit, as I have traveled up and down 80 I have wondered about Shineyboo.
Since I have been following this I have been awre that the project has been scheduled literally for years. I think it first showed up in the State Transportation Improvement Program in the late 1990′s. The work done on the Summit is really the first total rebuild of the road, meaning all the way down to regrading the base, since it was opened in the early 60′s. How much advance notice did you have, and how did Caltrans work with you to try to minimize the impact?