Coming Out, Goats, Government, and Attack Ads with Denise Juneau

2016-10-21 · collab / interview · Hank, Denise Juneau · 8:41 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: timely hook, guest or collab, self promotion, community lore

Hank interviews Montana's Superintendent of Public Instruction and congressional candidate Denise Juneau about being a politician rather than policy, then argues it is important to see politicians as people and that extreme partisanship hides how much works.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting at the office; Hank introduces Superintendent Denise Juneau, running for Congress for Montana

★★ Hank introduces Superintendent Juneau, who is running for Congress to represent Montana. — 00:00:12 · United States Congress, Montana

00:00:36 — Hank's aim (government and being a politician, not policy); pop quiz, goat prize, MSU's vote goat

★★★ Hank says he wants to discuss not policy or her campaign but government, being an elected official and how partisanship affects her, because we often forget politicians are people. (hedged) — 00:00:36 · perspective-taking
★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says that on the MSU campus a voter-registration effort uses a live 'vote goat' that goes around to draw people over so they can be registered. — 00:01:42

00:02:00 — Superintendent of Public Instruction; running for Congress vs statewide office; worst part: negativity and divisiveness

★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says the Superintendent of Public Instruction is basically the head of all Montana's schools, elected every four years as one of the statewide offices under the state constitution. — 00:02:08 · Montana
★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says running for Congress differs totally from her statewide race: bigger issues, more scrutiny, a larger microscope on you, but also a bigger megaphone. — 00:02:29 · United States Congress
★★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says the worst part is politics' negativity and divisiveness: good ideas go undiscussed as people draw ideological lines and talk about fear-based issues instead of ones that matter. (hedged) — 00:02:48

00:03:05 — Coming out during the campaign; '54th generation Montanan' and American Indian history

★★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau confirms she came out during the campaign by introducing her partner, saying you need the person in your life there to support you. — 00:03:05
★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says coming out had political and personal reasons: people expect access to who candidates are, and running for Congress she wanted things out there, given possible negativity. (hedged) — 00:03:20 · United States Congress
★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says despite stereotypes about Montana, her coming out hasn't become a political issue, which she thinks speaks volumes for the state, the country and their direction. (hedged) — 00:03:35 · Montana, United States
★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says her Twitter bio's '54th generation Montanan' just means a long time: American Indian people were here before America was a country, history she brings to the race. (playful) — 00:03:55 · Twitter, Montana, United States

“54th generation Montanan”

00:04:22 — Government seen as dysfunctional; good messages outweigh haters; 'be present'; debates and the LGBTQ question

★★★ Hank says the inattentive mostly hear about government's most dysfunctional things, and worries young people will care less about America's strong local government, seeing it as dysfunctional or unpleasant. — 00:04:22 · United States
★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says every hateful message or letter is matched by three or four good ones, or parents crediting Graduation Matters Montana for a child's graduating; the good outweighs the haters. — 00:04:40 · Montana
★★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says to put governing before winning, be present: show up where people gather, set aside your partisan hat, listen; government's function is making things better, so elections matter. — 00:05:06
★ Denise Juneau: Juneau says debates are scary, with questions you must guess; at her last debate an audience member asked how she'd help LGBTQ people, and she answered: first, get elected. (playful) — 00:05:45

00:06:19 — How to help Americans believe in government; Juneau's optimism

★★★ Denise Juneau: Juneau jokes again 'number one, get elected'; not naive about what needs fixing or divisive politics, she is optimistic and thinks most candidates want things better for those they represent. (hedged) — 00:06:19 · optimism

00:07:12 — Sign-off shown to the guest ('That's how I end my videos')

00:07:18 — Hank's reflection: imagine politicians as people; partisanship hides what works; we are good at taking on problems

★★★ Hank tells John with so many serious issues, talking with a candidate as a person can feel hard to justify, but he thinks imagining these people as people really matters. (hedged) — 00:07:18 · perspective-taking
★★★ Hank says information silos and voter communication strategies (one word unclear) are combining to create the most extreme partisanship he has seen in his lifetime. — 00:07:38
★★★ Hank says no one talks about what works, so everyone thinks everything is broken, but it isn't; things need maintenance, which doesn't mean it's never been worse or everything's crashing. — 00:07:52
★★ Hank says Americans, and humans, have problems right now but are good at taking on problems. — 00:08:09 · United States

00:08:15 — Plug for the full half-hour interview; reminder that educational videos are exempt from the time limit

★★ Hank says he cut a lot from the roughly half-hour full interview, which goes deeper and covers other topics, and asks viewers to watch it via the description link. — 00:08:15
★★ Hank reminds viewers that educational videos are exempt from the time limit, so they should stop talking about punishments in the comments. (playful) — 00:08:34 · Four-minute rule, Punishment

In the description and comments

★★ Hank (description) says a gay, American Indian, Democratic woman was nominated against incumbent Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, and has several times polled within the margin of error. — video description · Montana, United States
★★ Hank (description) says it was always, and remains, unlikely that Juneau will win, but that government is defined by more than just the winners of elections. (hedged) — video description
★★ Hank wanted to talk with someone who knows government and has faith in it; no politician is blameless for hyper-partisanship, but we cannot move past it without humanizing politicians and asking them to humanize each other. (hedged) — video description · perspective-taking
★ Hank thanks Nick Jenkins, Nicole Sweeney and Caitlin Hofmeister for getting up very early to help, and Juneau for making time in her busy schedule. — video description

Threads in this video

predicted · Hank: Denise Juneau is unlikely to win Montana's US House race (2016) — In the description Hank says it was always, and remains, unlikely that Juneau will win her race against Ryan Zinke. (video description)
restate · Can we imagine other people complexly, and what stops us? — Hank says it is really important to imagine politicians as people, even when serious issues make a plain conversation with a candidate feel hard to justify. (00:07:35)
restate · Is political polarization caused by structures (districts, rules, incentives) rather than by people? — Hank says information silos and voter communication strategies are combining to create the most extreme partisanship of his lifetime. (00:07:38)
restate · Does government work well? — Hank says no one talks about the things that work, so everybody thinks everything is broken, but it is not; things need maintenance, not despair. (00:07:52)
restate · Is it reasonable to be hopeful about the future? — Hank says Americans, and humans, have problems but are good at taking on problems. (00:08:09)
told · Hank interviews Montana congressional candidate Denise Juneau at his office (2016) — Hank tells John he cut a lot out of his interview with Denise Juneau; the full interview ran about half an hour and went deeper into several topics. (00:08:15)
asked · Hank asks viewers to watch his full half-hour interview with Denise Juneau (2016) — Hank asks viewers to watch the full half-hour interview with Juneau, linked in the description. (00:08:17)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Hank: Denise Juneau is unlikely to win Montana's US House race (2016) — its date passed (2016); no outcome reported; last: predicted, 2016-10-21

Mentioned

Central: 2016 United States House of Representatives election in Montana · coming out · Denise Juneau · Montana · perspective-taking · political polarization

Also: Works: Hank's full interview with Denise Juneau

Organizations: Montana Office of Public Instruction · Montana State University · Twitter · United States Congress · United States House of Representatives

Groups: Native Americans in the United States

Rituals: Four-minute rule · Punishment

Concepts: declinism · echo chamber · goat · local government · optimism · voter registration

Places: United States · Washington, DC

Policies: Graduation Matters Montana

Only in the description or credits: Caitlin Hofmeister · Democratic Party · negative campaigning · Nick Jenkins · Nicole Sweeney · Ryan Zinke · United States Navy SEALs

Also centred on political polarization: Idiotic Governance: How Our Political Discourse Hurts Our Economy · Policy and Politics: Brotherhood 2.0 Week Begins · The Lowdown on the Shutdown · Thoughts from the Edge · The Politics of "Parks and Rec" · Brazil's Government is Falling Apart...and it's Good News?

← Previous: Understanding Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's Health Care Reform Proposals · Next → Will the U.S. Presidential Election Be Rigged?