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Braving Politics Podcast
Hosted by Braving Politics Together · EN
Braving Politics Podcast is in association with Braving Politics Together! We aim to break down some of the barriers to getting involved in politics as well as explain some of the confusing elements. Our hope is that we can be brave in making a difference together.
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Episode 4 – Utah Primary Elections
Jun 18, 202000:13:46Tap to summarizeWelcome to Braving Politics Podcast! I’m Emily Bergeson, candidate with the United Utah Party. In this episode, we will be talking about Utah Primary Elections. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves diving into the Primary elections, I’d like to explain the difference between primary elections, and the general elections. It’s often confusing when you see signs go up in June and you’re getting calls, texts, and e-mails from candidates. There are public debates and lots of conversations about who to vote for. It starts to feel a lot like the general election, doesn’t it? But then the ballot comes in the mail and you look through all the names and you notice a few of them are missing. Primary elections are specific to political parties — Political parties like the Republican Party, Democratic Party, United Utah Party, the Constitution Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party to name a few. All of those people who are listed on the ballot belong to just one political party. They do not represent all of the candidates for the position, just all of the ones running with one political party. Not every position and not every political party has a primary election though. In order to have a primary election you need two things: You need more than one candidate competing for the same position AND you need a close enough race that there isn’t a clear winner. The first part is determined in March when candidates for elected positions file with the county or state office. There may be only one candidate declaring candidacy, there might be 20. Each candidate either associates with a political party or runs independently. Independent candidates have a separate qualification process for getting on the ballot for the general election and automatically independent candidates don’t have to worry about a primary election. For candidates running with a political party, that filing week — yeah, you only have a week to file candidacy — you’re watching the list and seeing how many other people file with your party. If you’re the only one who files with your political party, then it’s all done. No need for a primary election or any other steps for you. But if there is more than one candidate who files under the same political party, then we’ve met the first criteria and you may or may not have a primary election. The second part of determining if you need to participate in a primary election is based on a few other factors. In Utah, each political party has a convention. A convention is like a pre-primary election. At this convention, political party delegates (you know, those people the members of that party in your neighborhood selected to represent them) vote on which candidate they like best. In some cases delegates settle things and a clear winner emerges. That’s what happened in the position I’m running for. There were 3 Republicans who filed to run for Senate District 7. At the convention, however, one candidate clearly won to represent the Republicans on the ballot at the general election in November. There is no need for a primary election. All done. But let’s say there isn’t a clear winner at the convention. Then the political party holds a primary election to determine who wins to represent that party. Let me emphasize, primary elections ONLY select who will move on to the general election. This is not the person who will necessarily win the position. It’s confusing in Utah because usually the person who wins the Republican primary election also tends to win the general election, but I’ll get to that in a minute. There’s another way that candidates can qualify for a primary election and that is through the signature gathering process. This bypasses the convention and delegate votes and demonstrates that the candidate has enough support among registered party members that there should be a primary election. Confused? Let’s use the race for Governor to help us break this down a bit. First of all, the current governor in Utah is not running for re-election. We call this an open seat, when the incumbent, the person who currently holds the office, is not running again. With an open seat like this, you’ll often see a lot more people step forward and declare candidacy. Some people step forward from the same party, some people don’t. In this case 15 people paid the fee and declared themselves a candidate for governor. But not all 15 people get to move on to the next round. Not all 15 get to be on the ballot in November. And not all 15 will go through a primary election. So, who are these 15 people? Well, eight of them are from the Republican party, four of them are from the Democratic party, one is from the Independent American party, one is from the Libertarian party, and one is an unaffiliated candidate listed as a write-in. Okay. The rules say each political party can have only one candidate on the ballot in November. Each party then holds a convention to determine who will get to represent their party on the ballot in the general election in November. The Libertarian and Independent American party conventions were likely fairly straightforward with only one candidate stepping forward with each party. The unaffiliated write-in is not with any political party, so they follow different rules. Okay, so for the Utah Democratic party, with four candidates who have declared, the convention is the first step. During the Utah Democratic convention this year, delegates voted and chose a clear winner to represent their party on the ballot during the general election in November. Also, none of the other candidates gathered signatures in order to qualify for a separate primary election. With a clear winner, and no other candidates qualifying for a primary election, the Democratic party does not need to hold a primary election for this office. It also just so happens that all of the other elected offices have a clear winner, so Utah does not need to conduct a state level primary election for the Democratic party. If there had been a few races without a clear winner within their own party, or if there had been candidates who had gathered signatures to qualify for a primary election, then the state would have to conduct a primary election for the Democratic party as well. Now let’s look at the Utah Republican party and their candidates for governor. There were eight total candidates who declared candidacy with the Republican party. Three of those candidates gathered signatures before the convention. During the convention, two candidates gained enough votes from delegates to qualify for a primary election. Notice that one candidate qualified twice, through the convention and through gathering signatures. The other four candidates did not qualify for the primary election and did not move on. So, in this case, the Utah Republican party needs to have a primary election because there is not a clear candidate to represent them on the ballot in the general election in November. This isn’t the only race either. Turns out there are several other races throughout the state with the same situation. Some candidates qualified through the convention. Some candidates qualified through gathering signatures. Either way, if you vote in the Republican Primary election, again, just know that for every elected office where there is more than one name, each name represents people from the same political party who are competing for the same political office. The only reason why there are names on the ballot is because there is not yet a clear winner and the party needs to conduct a primary election to determine whose name gets to appear on the ballot to represent them in the general election in November. Okay, now that we hopefully understand when — and if — a political party needs to hold a primary election let’s talk about primary elections here in Utah. In Utah, the Republican party is the main political party. 1977 was the last time we elected a Democratic Governor. Across the state Republican candidates consistently win roughly 70% of the vote. In our legislature our state senate is made up of 29 senators. Of those senators 23 are Republican and 6 are Democrats. That’s 80% Republican, 20% from Democratic party. I don’t think Republican senators have to worry too much about what the Democrats think. In the House it’s the same. Out of the 75 House representatives, 59 or 80% are Republicans and 16 or 20% are from the Democratic party. What do these numbers tell you? The Republicans win, Democrats lose. As harsh as that sounds, that’s the way things are currently in Utah. But there’s another problem. While all of the other political parties in the state have open primaries, meaning anyone can vote in their primary elections, the Republican primary is closed. That means only registered Republicans can vote. This does make sense from a logical standpoint — I mean, only those who are members of the party ...
Transcribe →Episode 3 – Brave, Fragile, Still Talking
Jun 8, 202000:12:31Tap to summarizeWelcome to Braving Politics Podcast! I’m Emily Bergeson, State Senate candidate with the United Utah Party. A lot has been going on over the last week that has ramped up efforts to fix problems within law enforcement, especially relating to black citizens. This may be a scary and emotional time for many. As candidates with the United Utah Party we come from a variety of ideological backgrounds, but we choose to unite so that we can work together to improve things. During times when we may not all see eye-to-eye, it’s important to give each other some flexibility. We may say things that are misunderstood or taken the wrong way. We may encounter people who more vocally disagree with us. It can be daunting. These sensitive issues reveal how we are all sometimes a bit fragile, even as we try to be brave and make a difference. Most of this podcast will be dedicated to finding a way to have positive conversations, but I want to acknowledge that hurt feelings are real too. It’s okay to recognize when our feelings get hurt and take necessary breaks. We hope to give you some ideas for how to make things better, but it’s important to set our expectations appropriately. Not all conversations will go smoothly and we shouldn’t expect perfection from ourselves or from others. With that, we join with you in researching and trying to understand this issue better. There is a lot of great information available to us as we strive to understand and determine what we can do. It’s especially important to be willing to listen and discuss with others who may have a different viewpoint. That is sometimes difficult, but we can set the tone of kindness and patience. Since it’s not always easy to know how to be kind or patient with people, we’re going to walk through some tips that can apply in a variety of situations. These suggestions are good to keep in mind when the topic is especially sensitive. Included are a few sample phrases. I don’t know about you, but it does help to have specific phrases to pull out when I’m struggling. Let’s get started. Whenever you engage in any conversation, always assume good intentions. Even if you feel someone has said something particularly offensive, unless they are making it abundantly clear that they are trying to hurt your feelings, assume first that the person is not trying to hurt you. If we need to say this outloud we might say: “I know you have a good heart and that you care, it’s just not coming across that way in what you’re saying.” If someone is being particularly hurtful you might say, “I’m sure you’re upset, either by something I’ve said or something else going on. But I think we can figure this out, and it doesn’t help to say hurtful things.” Here’s another good rule of thumb: Seek first to understand before trying to be understood. If we first try to understand the other person before we try to share our point of view, chances are the conversation will go a lot better. Even if we are struggling to understand, we shouldn’t necessarily give up and jump straight to explaining our position. You can let the other person know that you’re trying, even if you’re struggling. You might say: “I know this is hard and I really appreciate your patience with me. I’m trying to understand where you’re coming from, I really am. And, I’m not giving up until I do.” As a note, if you need to take a break when it’s especially hard to see the other person’s point of view and you’re both frustrated, go ahead and take a break. Instead of saying something you might regret, it’s better to wait and try again later. Now, in some conversations, no matter how hard you are both trying to communicate, there are sometimes limitations that can’t be resolved in one conversation. Sometimes it’s okay to acknowledge these limitations openly, or maybe you’ll just have to make a mental note and move on. One common challenge is that we often speak in anecdotes, or in story form, trying to make connections as we attempt to make sense of what someone is saying. Sometimes those stories make it easy to relate to each other. Sometimes the stories cause more division and frustration. It’s important to recognize there is likely a story to support either side of an issue. Getting trapped in anecdotes can escalate into “my pain is worse than yours” kind of conversation. At that point, it’s almost guaranteed we’re not listening. One way to solve this problem is to acknowledge the experiences and validate what you can. When engaged in a story war, no one wins. Change the cascade of one-upmanship with some of these phrases: “Wow. That gives me a lot to think about.” “Whoa. That doesn’t sound fun.” Even if your automatic response is to find a similar experience, fight the urge because by doing that, you can end up trivializing the other person’s experience. Just because you can find a similar experience doesn’t mean the experience itself was entirely similar. Again, seek first to understand before being understood. If you find yourself really struggling to understand someone else’s experience, all is not lost. You can give yourself some time to digest by saying something like: “I’m trying to see your point, but we are obviously coming from different experiences. That’s not to say either one of us has a more or less valid experience. It just might take some time before we can fully understand each other, and that’s okay.” Another common limitation to a good conversation is when you recognize that either you or the other person is struggling to accept new information. It’s pretty normal for adults to struggle accepting something new or different. It can help to acknowledge that by saying: “You know, I know this isn’t a new issue, but I am struggling with some of these ideas that just don’t make sense to me. I don’t know if this conversation is going to fix it all and I might have to do some more research on my own before I’m ready.” Also helpful might be to say: “I know a lot of this may feel unfamiliar and I don’t expect you to accept everything I’m saying. You can take some time to research the topic some more on your own. I’m happy to share some of the resources I found helpful.” A note about offering resources… You are more likely to get people to take you up on your offer if you make it an open invitation, and not something forced or sarcastic. We need to ease into new information. We want the initial experience to be welcoming so it’s easier to swallow the changes that need to take place. And just so you know, it can be daunting to receive a 20 title book list to read, a number of podcasts to listen to and several movies to watch. Whether for you or for your friend, keep it reasonable. Now, when conversations over sensitive topics get particularly heated, it can be helpful to set boundaries. If you’re struggling with something, don’t be afraid to speak up. You don’t have to suffer in silence. If there are some things that are just hard for you to hear, or things that are outside of your comfort zone, it can help to let the other person know specifically what that is. You should also invite the other person to set reasonable boundaries for themselves as well. Sometimes we don’t even realize we need boundaries and simply continue reacting. While phrases may be different based on the boundaries you need to set here is a sample scenario to get you started: Let’s say the person you are talking to constantly rolls her eyes or sighs every time you say something relating to your main points. In that case you might say: “Hey, I’m sure this isn’t a comfortable conversation for you, would you rather stop?” If the other person says yes, then you can say: “That’s totally fine.” This spares you the misery of putting up with rudeness and gives them a rest from being rude. If the other person says that they would rather continue the conversation you might say: “Okay. Cool. The only thing is, when you sigh and roll your eyes, I feel less likely to want to talk to you. I can totally understand that we see things differently, but this is becoming not so fun for me.” If you’re with me to this point, hopefully you’re not feeling totally hopeless. It is hard to elevate these conversations, especially when the other person might not give y...
Transcribe →Episode 2 – The Worth of Your Vote
Jun 5, 202000:08:25Tap to summarizeWelcome to Braving Politics Podcast! I’m Emily Bergeson, a candidate with the United Utah Party and today we will be talking about the worth of your vote. As a candidate of a new political party which seeks to find solutions outside of the two-party system, I often get asked several questions. The questions themselves reveal what we have been trained to think our vote is worth and provide a perfect framework for getting deeper into understanding why your vote is so important. Here’s a common question: If I vote for a candidate that is not a Republican or Democrat, won’t I just be throwing away my vote? Let’s think about this question for a moment. Is any vote “thrown away”? No vote is ever thrown away. Why? Because people in politics LOVE numbers. They are constantly taking polls and collecting data. The best and most accurate poll, though, is the ballot box. Your vote is so important. So very important. Your vote is the only way you can really tell the government what you want. The problem really comes when your options are limited. It’s not that you are throwing away your vote, it’s that you’re not able to say as much as you were hoping to say with that vote. Let’s use a simple example. Let’s say stores only carry apples and blueberries. They don’t carry anything else. And according to store policy, you can only buy one at a time — either buy apples or buy blueberries, but not both. Why is that? Because that’s the store’s policy and they have no reason to do anything differently. Okay, fine. It’s been a while and everyone is pretty much used to it, so you look at the apples, you look at the blueberries, think about the differences in cost and nutrients and finally pick one. Maybe your choice is easy. Maybe you come from a family who only eats apples. Maybe your family only eats blueberries. Maybe your family used to eat apples but now you’ve switched to blueberries. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Whatever it is, we’re at a point where everyone is talking so much about apples and blueberries that maybe we should pause to think… Why do we only have two choices? And if we are at that point where we want more choices, that’s where your vote comes in. That is the power of your vote. Your vote is how you tell people what you want. If you are fine with the way things are, use your vote to let the government know you’re happy. But if you’re unhappy with the way things are, you need to start voting differently. In 2016 when many voters were unhappy with the apples and blueberries they had to choose from, an independent candidate showed up and won an unusually high number of votes. Let me tell you, a lot of people took notice. That’s one reason why the United Utah Party was able to gain so much momentum. Because so many people were willing to vote for someone other than the Republican or the Democrat, signalling that people are not happy with the way things are. That made space for talented people who were willing to put in the work of creating a new political party so that now we have more choices. That would have been far less likely to happen if people weren’t willing to use their vote to say what they wanted. Another question that sometimes comes up is the question about the “spoiler” effect? If I vote for someone outside of Republicans or Democrats, won’t I just be helping the other side? I’ll answer this question by first saying ranked choice voting could easily fix this problem. Ranked choice voting, instant runoff voting, or whatever you want to call it, allows you to vote for all and rank in order of preference, the candidates you like. If your top choice doesn’t get enough votes, your vote is then given to your second choice. If the second choice doesn’t get enough votes either then, your vote is given to your third choice and so on until there is a clear winner. There are lots of cool videos that explain how this works. I seriously wish we were allowed to vote this way… I’m hoping we will get there eventually. Some parts of the country already use ranked choice voting. Anyway, since most of us don’t have the luxury of ranked choice voting yet, your vote can only count towards one person. People argue that if you usually vote for a certain political party but then you decide to change over and vote for someone else, you weaken that political party’s chances of winning because this other option has stolen away the votes. Some voters are worried that voting for a new person will give more power to the candidates they REALLY don’t want to win. So they vote for the candidate they don’t necessarily like, but reason that it’s better than letting the other guy win. But, all that does is keep us stuck buying apples or blueberries. You know, maybe they were great at one point, but right now, I would give anything for a plum or peach or heck, even a vegetable…something else! And if you’re unhappy like I am, we need to vote accordingly. Here’s another question I get. Doesn’t a third person coming into the race ruin things? I would argue they don’t. For one, if you are a Republican in Utah, the super majority held by Republicans is so large, it is really hard for a Democrat to win in most races, even if the Republican loses your vote. In fact, in certain races a Democrat doesn’t even bother running anymore because the chances of winning are so low. Take my race for example. I am the only other option. There is no Democrat in the race, no other political party, no other choice. Without me, the Repbulican would simply get coronated in November, without having had to do any work to win your vote. The same goes for super majorities in certain parts of the state and across the country where the Democrats or the Republicans are the majority. In cases like this, even if you tried, your vote wouldn’t help the “other side” win. In areas where people are more split and it’s anybody’s guess whether a Republican or Democrat will win is more interesting, and in that case, politicians rightfully argue that a third person could spoil it. That’s why I love the United Utah Party. The numbers show we take from both major parties. We appeal to both Republicans and Democrats, so if we’re splitting the vote, we’re splitting it from both sides. You voting for a United Utah Party candidate doesn’t necessarily help the “other person” win because there are plenty of other people like you who want to see the system change too. But again, going back to the choices we have, things will never change unless we actively support the other option. Simply refusing to vote doesn’t help. You have to actually vote in order for people to stand up and pay attention. Our vote tells people, especially politicians — I like what you stand for or hey, you’re doing a great job. Our vote says I agree or I disagree. It is the best way to let people know what we think, what we’re happy about, what we’re unhappy about. So with that in mind, think about the current political environment. There is a lot you can say with your one little vote. You can say, I don’t want either of you guys. You can say, Yeah! I totally agree with the way things are going. With every vote that says something honest and true to what you think, the more politicians and politics will adjust. Politicians pay attention to the polls. And the best poll is the ballot.
Transcribe →Episode 1 – Braving Politics Together
Jun 5, 202000:05:32Tap to summarizeWelcome to Braving Politics Podcast! This is our first episode where we share with you our vision for this podcast. To start off, let me introduce myself. I’m Emily Bergeson, a candidate with the United Utah Party, running for State Senate District 7 here in Utah. I’ve had to say that a lot over the last few months and I’m still getting used to it. Luckily I’m only running a state race, and not a federal race. That makes it a little less intimidating, but there are times I still feel way out of my league. Still, there are several reasons why I decided to run. The most important reason is that it gives me an opportunity to be doing things like this podcast. My hope is to make politics more inviting so that more of us get involved. And speaking of that, I’m running a campaign alongside three other fantastic candidates from the United Utah Party. They are also running for the legislature here in Utah, like I am, but for the Utah House of Representatives instead of the State Senate. Kate Walters running for House District 56. She can be found online at waltersfor56.org. There’s Catherine Eslinger running for House District 59. Learn more about her at catherine4house 59.com. And there’s Christine Heath running for House District 60. Go to christine4utah.com. The four of us are Braving Politics Together. We come from different backgrounds, have different interests and talents — just like you. The great thing about that is we can all learn from each other, find common ground, and improve politics. It helps to take the time to understand each other and appreciate our diverse backgrounds. It also takes someone having faith in us that we have something worth contributing. I can’t tell you how often I hear people say they don’t know anything about politics and then within a few minutes, they express some amazing ideas about how to make things better. Hopefully we can build a little more faith in ourselves and each other. Most of the time we assume people who are really good at politics have always been really good at politics and we’re the only ones struggling. That’s not true. We all struggle with some things. We all quickly master other things. Politics has so many layers and aspects to it, it’s impossible for any one person to get it right or understand it perfectly all the time. I would say that is particularly true with politics these days. Politics is becoming even more complex and we are seeing some amazing as well as disturbing things take place. I believe we each hold a piece of the puzzle, a way through to help us understand it all better. No matter how little you think you understand politics, no matter how much you try to avoid it, you have something meaningful to contribute. I’ll use myself as an example. Most of my adult life I had little to no interest in voting. I largely believed it didn’t really matter whether or not I voted. On top of that, I almost never watched the news. I found it depressing and discouraging. I didn’t know the names of any of my local representatives. I tried once to have a political discussion with someone and failed miserably. I let politics lay dormant, convinced that politics just wasn’t for me. Then some things happened in my personal life, and in our nation that finally woke me up from my political slumber. It wasn’t pleasant. Like wiping slime from my lips, this sleeping beauty opened her eyes to a very unattractive political prince. Granted, the government doesn’t exactly make it all that attractive. Continuing with the fairytale theme, the government is like an ugly frog and you’re not quite sure if it’s worth finding out if the frog is a prince. It can be really hard to figure out what’s going on, let alone what things mean. Since being awakened,I’ve learned that I don’t have to do it all myself. And guess what. This isn’t a fairytale I’m stuck in. Instead, it’s many stories with many heroes, including you. We all have things we’re bravely doing. We’re making a difference in our own way. It is our hope at Braving Politics Together that we can all indeed work together, be brave together as we figure out politics. We’ll be exploring a variety of themes and issues that will be foundational for helping us make informed decisions that will help fix the problems we’re currently facing. It’s not going to be easy. At times it won’t be pretty. It is going to take all of us being brave together.
Transcribe →