Meet Joel

How I made it to Oregon...

I grew up in Northern Minnesota, the youngest son of three children in a Scandinavian family of modest means, strong on the teaching of principles of honesty, integrity and patriotism. These core ideals were reinforced during my earliest employment, when I was fortunate enough to spend my high school years working for an extraordinary Minnesota legislator by the name of John McKee. John, who always insisted that I call him by his first name, consistently approached both life and politics with honesty, integrity and humility. One of John's pages was Wendell Anderson, who served in the Minnesota legislature and later married John's daughter Mary. Wendell subsequently served first in the Minnesota legislature, and then as governor, finally ending his political career as a U.S. Senator from Minnesota.

Governor Anderson was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in August 1973, and the accompanying article included the excerpted quotation below, which reflects to me the nature of my experience growing up in Minnesota.

“Politics is almost unnaturally clean—no patronage, virtually no corruption. The citizens are well educated; the high school dropout rate, 7.6%, is the nation's lowest. Minnesotans are remarkably civil; their crime rate is the third lowest in the nation (after Iowa and Maine). By a combination of political and cultural tradition, geography and sheer luck, Minnesota nurtures an extraordinarily successful society.”

These early experiences likely combined to influence my decision to volunteer for the draft in 1968, at the height of Vietnam War. While it took me several years to recover from my bumpy experience in the U.S. Army, I am a passionate proponent of compulsory national service in some form, whether military or social service, to both educate our youth and invest them in our nation.

Had I not successfully completed my military service, I am not sure that I would have continued my education past high school. Fortunately, I did earn a bachelors degree by utilizing the GI Bill and working part-time, and then went on to complete a master’s degree through a teaching assistantship and what I had remaining of my GI Bill. Once finished with the school work, my adventurous wife Judy and I concluded that Oregon was the best place on the planet for us to pursue our dreams, and in 1976 we hitched up our Chevrolet wagon and ventured westward to roost in this marvelous state.

Why I am running for Congress...

Up front, I am an ordinary citizen with little political expertise. Our government, on the other hand, is largely run by career politicians, dominated by male lawyers and with a declining percentage of military veterans. I have enjoyed the opportunity to obtain both a good education and good jobs, largely because of veterans’ benefits. Luckily, I have also enjoyed good health thanks in part to access to quality health care. In recent years, I have become increasingly concerned about where our nation is headed in terms of fiscal, energy, education, foreign affairs and public policy matters. Ignoring these realities is not an option, and I hope to be a part of shifting the direction in which this nation is headed.

Increasing the number of ordinary citizens taking part in our governing bodies, as our constitutional framers envisioned, would benefit our nation. I also believe strongly that we need fewer absolutists representing us in D.C. Our representatives must have the capacity to compromise on issues that are critical to our continued viability as a nation. For example, I see overwhelming evidence that global temperatures are rising as a consequence of human activity (mainly fossil fuels); accepting this evidence seems imperative regardless of previously held views. I also see our current tax system as fundamentally broken and in urgent need of repair. And, perhaps the 20-ton gorilla sitting in the corner is the burgeoning world population which is expected to reach or exceed 9 billion by the year 2050.

Hence, I present my 5-Point Plan herein, as I believe these particular areas are in urgent need of the attention of the 111th Congress, and they will likely get short shrift unless the public demands otherwise. I urge you to consider these five issues when you vote this coming November, and I hope you will join me in being part of the movement to reinvigorate progressive thinking in our remarkable nation.