I live in an area with many farmers. Since corporate farming is illegal in ND, every farmer is, in effect, a small business owner. I was asking one of my farmer friends, “hey, what do farmers in our part of the country do about health insurance?” His answer was interesting. Basically, he said that if…
Matt Evans: The Real Outrage Is That You’re Still Watching the NFL
Everyone is talking about that football player that decided to make a political statement about something related to race relations, I guess. I don’t know what is normal or expected in NFL games, so I guess I don’t have an informed opinion. The main sport I follow is Formula 1 motor racing. The drivers come…
Matt Evans: 2016 Is Looking Like a Bad Year to Be the Status Quo
The UK has voted to leave the European Union. Doug Burgum, a man who has not previously held public office, just had a successful primary victory over a competent and long serving attorney general. And Wednesday, Donald Trump gave the best speech he’s ever given. Even Slate magazine called the speech “terrifyingly effective”. The message…
Matt Evans: Does North Dakota Really Need To Change?
I did not grow up in North Dakota. I’ve lived many places in the US, all of them in suburbs of large cities. I came to North Dakota as a young adult, and it was here that my wife and I started our family. Until moving out to the country, Fargo was the smallest place…
Matt Evans: We Need To Talk Openly About Potential Health Risks From Refugees
The protests and news drama about refugees being a TB risk has died down. So why am I bringing it back up? I don’t think we’re having a perfectly honest conversation about refugee TB concerns. What did the Forum say about VNL’s story about the risk of TB from refugees? “Dr. John Baird, health officer…
Matt Evans: How I Came To Support Donald Trump
Months ago, when I first heard that Donald Trump was throwing his hat into the ring to run for President, my reaction was about like most people’s: “we’ve had enough of this unserious clown” Now, of the remaining candidates for office, he’s my first pick. What happened? You may recall that last August, Trump was…
Matt Evans: A Quick Complaint About Smarter Balanced Testing
For the past three years I’ve taught computer science in a North Dakota public high school. It’s very difficult to find people who are properly trained to teach computer science and have the appropriate teaching certifications, so it’s very difficult to bring rigorous computer science to public high schools. To combat this problem, I’m part…
Matt Evans: North Dakota Is The Best Place In The Nation To Get Involved In Politics
The 2016 NDGOP state convention is my 3rd in a row, and it has been the best one yet. I’d like to thank state chair Kelly Armstrong, as well as the many other volunteers who worked hard to make the convention run fairly and smoothly. You may recall that during the 2012 convention, the Ron…
Matt Evans: The Qualities Needed To Be An Effective President
When engaging in the national pastime of arguing about politics, Americans often like to claim that any candidate (besides the one they support, of course) is not qualified for the job of President of The United States. Usually, such petitioners don’t actually explain what they think the qualifications are, so it’s difficult to have a…
Matt Evans: What Is A Republican?
At the national level, Donald Trump is presenting the “little r” republicans with an identity crisis. Is he Republican? Is he Republican enough? Who decides? What does it mean to be a Republican? What does it mean to be conservative? How are they they related? I recently had a conversation about what it means to…