Voices from the Road – Part V

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:

Debbie is 49, a waitress from Butte, MT and a widow. She said. I’d like to see them do something about all the animals that are killed every year. And all the homeless. And I’d like to see them get their butt’s down and help those people in New Orleans who were in Katrina, because they’re still living in terrible conditions. Also, health care. I work for minimum wage so I can’t afford insurance. And I have a few conditions, which means nobody wants to insure you. I had some heart symptoms recently and I had to have two tests for my heart, which put me 3000 in debt. But what was I supposed to do? We take all this money and put it into this war, and we don’t take care of our American people. Sometimes I think that the politicians view a lot of us as expendable.

(Debbie didn’t want to show her face.)

Jay is 55, an ex-Green Beret, a retired, disabled veteran, from Melrose, MT. He said: We need to take care of the United States first. Take care of all of us, that means health insurance. I fought in every war from Viet Nam until 1986—Lebanon, Afghanistan. I got blown up in Afghanistan. I seen all these other places. And they needed help. But we need to get our country right first. We need to take care of the home front first. Our country’s goin’ to hell.

Lee, 47, lives and works as a bartender and gas station attendant in Melrose, MT. He said: Oil. We need to get over our dependence on foreign oil and start looking into other resources.

Mary, 40, lives in Blackfoot and is a cashier. She said: I think poverty, which is coupled with education. And that goes a long with the minimum wage, which is grossly low. A lot of Americans need to have the opportunity to get a good education, so that they can better themselves and get out of poverty. It’s sad when both a husband and a wife are working full time and their income still falls below the poverty line.


Theresa, 16, a junior at Blackfoot High School who wants to be a pediatric plastic surgeon. She said: Starvation. People not getting enough to eat because their parents don’t have the money for it.


Jesse, 39, a fencing contractor from Dillon, MT. He said: One thing I heard them talking about on the radio the other day, is the exploitation of children, child pornography. I’d like to see better monitoring of that kind of stuff. It’s scary. They were saying it’s a 40 billion dollar business. And I wish the two parties could get along. It seems to be all about what’s good for their party, not what’s good for the country.

Rooster is also a fencing contractor, also from Dillon, MT. He said: Iraq. I think we need to stop sending so much money to Iraq. And use some of that money for our own people. I’d like to think they’re doing something good over there. It’d make me feel better. But, it’s really hard to know.

Alright, that’s it for now. Some more topical posts later tonight when I get to LA.

P.S. – R.I.P, Luciano Pavarotti. We will miss your lush, gorgeous, and brilliantly accessible tenor voice.