The federal government is a complete mess, and only non-incumbents can save it.
That was the basic message Tuesday brought by Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Doug Anderson and Kyle Kopitke in a University of Utah forum.Missing from the debate was Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah. Owens has announced he will seek the Senate seat being vacated next year by Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah. Owens was in Washington, D.C., attending the final days of the current Congress.
Anderson, a corporate consultant and former Harvard Business School professor, and Kopitke, a computer specialist who was an unsuccessful candidate for Salt Lake County assessor in 1990, both said they'd hoped that Owens - the early leader in the race - would be present.
But the incumbent congressman wasn't, and so it was an open field day for anti-incumbent rhetoric.
"The middle-class has received the shaft," said Anderson. "The economy is getting worse and the politicians just aren't getting the message. The American dream used to be owning your own home. Now it's filling out the Publisher Clearinghouse's form and hoping to win the grand prize."
Anderson said his father and mother, who were relatively poor, bought their first home when his father was 31. But of his four siblings, Anderson said only he and a brother own their own homes today. "It's not a hope whether your children will have a better life than you - as it used to be. It's a question of whether they will have as good a life as you."
Kopitke said incumbent politicians go to Washington with the ideal of serving their constituents. But soon after arriving they begin serving themselves. "They build their own little kingdoms, look after their own perks."
Anderson said middle America, and especially middle-income Utahns, are in a squeeze they can't get out of. "Sixty-nine percent of Utah women are either single parents or their spouses earn less than $15,000 a year. The key issue (of the campaign) is good jobs, quality education and making government work."
Kopitke, a product of Utah schools, said teachers should be given competency tests. "You can't teach correct English if you can't speak correct English. And I had some teachers who didn't use correct English."
He said the federal government should require that there be no more than 15 students per teacher. He'd decrease the number of students per teacher by requiring all young Utahns to serve two years in public service, either after high school, at age 19, or after college.
"They could serve their two years in government service, for their church or for a charity. I was in the Peace Corps, and I was paid $100 a month. I believe we should pay these young people for their work." He'd come up with the money by reducing the federal expenditures on defense.
Anderson said such "volunteer" service sounds good. But he wonders how it would work. He asked the small crowd - about 50 people - who attended the debate if they would support the two-year work. Only a few did, most raising their hands in opposition. "See, I'd have to think about that some more."