Buckley versus Vidal, circa 1968…and Best of Buckley with Charlie Rose

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Okay, finally….here’s my last installment of Voices from the Road.

(For those just tuning in, you can find the first five installments, gathered as I was driving from Los Angeles to northwestern Montana and back again, here, here, here, here and here)

Again, the single question I asked was: If you could ask the America’s politicians—Democrats and Republicans— to get one problem solved for this country, what issue would you pick first?

You’ll note this is a far less varied group than the others, in that four out of the six people are from Cedar City, Utah. (The fifth was an interesting homeless guy living in Las Vegas whom I met with I stopped at a city park to let my dog stretch her legs. The sixth was….well, you’ll just have to read on and find out.)

Since the preponderance of those I interviewed are from Cedar City, let me tell you a little about the place. This is Bush country. The state went 70 percent for Bush in 2004, and Cedar City is resolutely Republican. It’s also a culturally homogeneous town, population about 24,000, 92 percent white, most of those of English extraction, with a few German, Scottish and Irish bloodlines thrown in for variety. It was founded after Brigham Young sent settlers to the area in 1851 to mine the region’s coal and iron deposits. Fifty-three percent of its adults are married, and the median family income is $37,509. It is the home of Southern Utah University.

It’s a small enough city that most kids walk or ride bikes to school. And there is very little violent crime here according to the FBI. In fact, the town’s big crime incident this August was the feud between two portrait photographers that turned briefly violent when photographer Kurt Leany lobbed a rock (allegedly via slingshot) through the the window of photographer Karl Hugh. The precipitating event was when the Miss Iron County Pageant switched its business from Mr. Leany to Mr. Hugh. Mr. Leany has since apologized.

All in all, Cedar City seemed like a nice town and an excellent place to find some conservative-leaning answers to my question. Hoping for a good age mix (and also hoping to snag for myself a triple latte), I dropped into the town’s Starbucks where nearly everyone in the place was eager to talk. I randomly picked four—two Starbucks workers, and two customers.

To a person, they wanted to talk about Iraq (In one case, the economy was thrown in as well.) Three of them had relatives in country or about to go. Their answers were poignant, and more emotional than you’ll get simply from the printed words. Some of them stuttered as they talked, their expressions suddenly stricken. It wasn’t that they weren’t articulate. These were people who genuinely wanted to answer the question. But, once into the subject, they seemed to find themselves at a loss about what they could reasonably wish for in order to fix the situation.

And no one-–no one—sounded confident that their leaders knew what to do.

Okay, enough of my nattering. Here are their words:

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Today’s Voices from the Road group includes a war wounded ex-Green Beret, a coffee shop waitress, two fencing contractors (one of them named Rooster), plus an ambitious high school student….and more. I found them at various towns along the way as I retraced my steps between Butte, MT to Cedar City, Utah. In Melrose, MT, I interrupted some guys (and a dog) putting up a barbed-wire fence.

In Blackfoot, ID, I talked to a sixteen-year-old on her way to the East Idaho State Fair.

I continued to use the same question: (”If you could ask American politicians—Dem and Repub alike—to work on solving one problem facing our country, what problem would you choose?”)

Other than asking people to expand on what they were saying, I continue to choose not to ask follow-up questions. I’m more interested in their gut-level personal priorities. It’s been fascinating to find how eager everyone is to talk.

In Idaho, I also asked about a half-dozen people what they thought of Craig’s situation, and whether he ought to go or stay. Most seemed embarrassed by the guy, although there was disagreement about whether he should resign or not.

In between, I listened to a lot of AM radio, which I usually avoid. This meant I was treated to multiple playings of Larry Craig’s cell phone call to his attorney, which was mistakenly left on somebody else’s voice mail,…and other ennobling fare. After hours of listening to this stuff, I feel confident about giving the undisputed Troglodyte of the Day Award to Michael Medved for saying: If immigrants want to succeed in this country, they need to embrace the core values of the British civilization—which is where this country came from. (Uh, Michael, honey, sit down and let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was this quirky little event they called the Boston Tea Party…..)

One more odd note: This day’s interviewing process was slightly disrupted by…… tornado warnings (!!!) While I was driving through Idaho, I found myself in the midst of some hard driving rain and some truly peculiar wind. I was wondering what the hell I’d run into (and trying to keep my car from levitating itself into a ditch) when the Emergency Broadcast System began screeching over the radio, and it turned out I was smack in the middle of whatever they were warning about. Fortunately the tornado never did touch down, so I was spared any Oz-like experiences. But, what with the weird wind and the radio screeches, I got a bit distracted from my interviewing task for 200 miles or so.

On the other hand, by Utah, there was a rainbow.

Okay, here are today’s voices:

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All the people in this group were accosted during day trips from West Glacier. They include a computer guy from Florida, a husband and wife team who work in and around the Blackfeet reservation, two attorney’s from Chicago, and a small town Montana woman who is part owner in a hot springs resort.

I talked to the latter at one of my favorite hangouts on the planet, the Northern Lights Saloon and Restaurant in Polebridge, MT. It’s 40 minutes down a washboard road and located smack in the prettiest middle-of-nowhere you can imagine. (This photo doesn’t show the surrounding scenery.) If you’re anywhere within a 200 mile radius of the place, I’d recommend stopping in.

Alright, here are those voices:

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Curious horses on Interstate 90 past Gold Creek, MT, where I stopped because the dog was stir crazy.

This next batch came from the stretch between Butte, MT and West Glacier, MT—gorgeous country even if much of it was on fire. Fortunately, but the time I drove through, most of the fires had calmed.

Okay, here are those voices:

Kevin and Mike were inside a combination bookstore/coffee bar in Butte, where I went to avail myself of a WiFi connection. They were drinking fancy coffees and philosophizing something fierce.

Kevin, 47, lives in Butte and is a contractor. He said: I think there needs to be more equal treatment between everybody in this world. There’s too great a disparity between people who have everything, and those who have nothing. There needs to be more common ground between the two. It seems that especially lately, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. I think global warming, I think are part of that too. The rich just don’t give a darn so they keep giving out false information about that. But I think everybody realizes its actually happening. That would be my choice, to come up with more of a common ground between the rich and the poor.

Mike, 64, lives in Butte, and is a retired engineer. He said: . I think something like what Kevin said. What is justice? It means treating everybody fair. Everybody gets a fair shake. But in this country money is what counts. I watched an old interview with Leona Helmsley, and she actually said thought she should get another trial because, “I paid six million in taxes. That should entitle me to something.” So Justice. Treat everybody treated equally.

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I met these three firefighters when they’d come down for the fire line, south of Missoula. They’d been fighting what is known as the Black Cat fire. The blaze had been huge and dangerous earlier in the week, but now it was moving toward control.

Fen, 37, is from Emporia, KS. He said: The energy problem. Our dependence on fossil fuel.

Lee, 35, Rapid City South Dakota. He said: I agree with Fen. I’d also like to see us do away with our dependence on fossil fuel. We need to spread it out amongst our other resources.

Dennis, 37, is from Colorado. He said: Welfare reform. In my opinion I’d cut welfare reform because there a lot of jobs for people who want to work.

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I met Marcia and Rosario when they pulled into the parking lot in front of a gift shop in West Glacier, MT. They were riding a beautiful, candy apple red Harley, and had just returned from the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, the place they’d originally met 34 years ago. (They’ve been married 34 years.) They are both from Pittsburgh, PA.

Rosario, 54, said: If I had the chance to help this country with one solution, it would be….for everyone to coexist, to put aside religions and colors, and just get along. I think that would be a peaceful start to a calmer world.

Marcia, 53, said: I’d bring back all the one-on-one customer service, and bring back the old cork board where you actually talk to people. I used to do that, and I miss it. Nobody has customer service anymore. The politicians wouldn’t get into that, I realize. But in terms of the politicians…..They should take better care of the environment. Global warming.

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Light posting over the weekend. Back on Monday, but likely not TOO early.

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Finally, the next batch of voices. I spoke with the people below on the route between Cedar City, Utah, and Butte, Montana, where fortunes were made through the mining of copper.

Late today, I’ll put up the next group, which I gathered between Butte and West Glacier, MT. This group spans a range from afternoon latte drinkers to out-of-state firefighters fresh from battling Montana’s “Black Cat” wildfire.)

So far, as you will note, I’ve been sticking with the same question, but that may change.

FULL DISCLOSURE: In the course of interviewing Holly and Heidi (see below) I found it necessary to have a Moose Drool beer or two—just for the sake of establishing rapport. (I am nothing if not dedicated.)

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(NOTE: click on the thumbnails if you want to see larger photos)

Jason, 18, lives in Cedar City, Utah, and works at the local Motel 6. He said: Probably I’d change the economy. We’re so much in debt. We’re considered one of the wealthiest nations in the world. But we’re really just trillions of dollars in debt.

Travis, 31, works as a mechanic in Filmore, Utah. He said: It’d be global warming, because if they don’t do something about it there’s not going to be a place for us to live in twenty years.

Jeff, 53, from Inkham, Idaho, is a truck driver, and family man. He said:: I’d first fire every one of them. And tell them to go find a job. They’ve been around long enough. Then I would probably address the war. I don’t think the war’s been run in our best interest. I think it’s been run over a bunch of money, and money only. A very selected few are filling their pockets. And we’re losing too damn many young women and young men for their cause to fill their pockets.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE VOICES

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As most of you know, I’m on a road trip and so am using this as an excuse to gather snap opinions from random Americans.

Today’s question was: If you could ask the America’s politicians—Democrats and Republicans— to accomplish one task, to get one problem solved for this country, what would you pick first….if it was left completely up to you?

These voices were gathered between Los Angeles and Cedar City, Utah. I pounced on people VERY randomly, some working people along the way, some tourists.

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Emanuel said: “I would like the politicians to end the war in Iraq and to bring all the young people back home.”


Myron said: “It’s hard to say….Jobs. I’d like them to work on better jobs….you know, better employment opportunities for ordinary people.”

Michelle said: What would I change? I’d like them to be honest. That would be nice. Well, maybe take care of our people first, instead of people in other countries. And also free medical and dental, like they have in England.


Mike said: I think we should stop sticking our nose in other countries problems and business, and work on our problems. Rebuild the economy. Leave the Middle East alone. I think we should all work on the racial issues in this country. You know, we need to learn to like and understand each other better.

Madae said: I’d do something really simple. Medical care for everyone. The insurance companies only want to insure the healthy, not the people who really need it.


Brian said: “I’d like my car fixed.”

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