DANIEL KEMMIS
A passion for democracy has motivated Daniel Kemmis throughout a life devoted to public service and to working alongside his fellow citizens to achieve the greater good. Raised on a small Montana family farm, Kemmis studied government and politics at Harvard University before returning to his native state. Concerned with how rampant energy development was threatening Montana landscapes and communities, he ran for and was elected to the Montana House of Representatives, where he eventually served as minority leader and then speaker of the house. Moved by his legislative experience to explore the possibilities of a more community-focused politics, Mr. Kemmis wrote Community and the Politics of Place, published the year he became mayor of Missoula.
His next two books, The Good City and the Good Life, and This Sovereign Land: A New Vision for Governing in the West, continued his exploration of how well-loved places can nurture a truly democratic form of citizenship. Combining democratic practice as an elected official with significant contributions to democratic theory, Kemmis was recognized by the Utne Reader as one of its “100 Visionaries” in 1995. In 1997 he was awarded the Charles Frankel Prize by President Clinton for “outstanding contribution to the field of the humanities,” and the next year the Center of the American West honored him with its Wallace Stegner Prize.
Devoted to “helping democracy work as it should,” the Kettering Foundation brought Daniel onto its board, where he served for several years before becoming a Kettering Associate. He also served on the boards of the Northwest Area Foundation and Philanthropy Northwest. He went on to explore philanthropy’s potential for strengthening democracy as one of the promising themes in Citizens Uniting.
That book represents a cogent overview of our current political situation and a lucid presentation of pragmatic approaches that can now be taken to restore our democracy to its potential. His decades of work in both the nitty-gritty of democratic practice and the thoughtful study of democratic history and theory have shown him how an engaged community can rise above tribalism and raw partisanship to strive for a good life for its citizens. Building on that solid democratic foundation, he has taken the next step of identifying ways in which these locally fruitful practices can be leveraged to create a powerful movement of democratic renewal.
Since its publication I have come to think of Citizens Uniting as a kind of desk reference — not so much a volume that most people would read cover-to-cover, but a resource that you might pick up and dig into when you find yourself seeking a little more clarity about how to think about (or what to do about) a particular problem or opportunity confronting us as democratic citizens.
So, for example, if you worry about the possibility that the 2024 presidential election might once again allow someone who finished second in the popular vote to become president, you might want to take a look at the chapter on Electoral College reform. If your state’s U.S. Senate race is being overwhelmed by millions of dollars in campaign spending (most of it from outside your state), the chapters on campaign finance should give you some insight into what it is going to take to change that picture. If you think we should be creating a democracy lobby at least as powerful as the gun lobby has been, turn to page 206 and see if that section gives you any ideas about next steps.
You can purchase Citizens Uniting from the publisher, order it from Barnes & Noble or Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.
More Books by Daniel Kemmis
Community and the Politics of Place
“Kemmis’s book is eloquently written and wonderfully readable. Its descriptions of what communities might be and how they might work together are enormously attractive. And it makes a point that is relatively new even in the very ancient field of political theory: that location is crucial to our very concept of community.” Utah Humanities Council
https://www.oupress.com/9780806124773/community-and-the-politics-of-place/
The Good City & the Good Life
“Daniel Kemmis is rare among elected officials as a thoughtful interpreter of and commentator on the nature of citizenship and political responsibility; even more rare, he is a fluent and engaging writer. The Good City and the Good Life is a wide-ranging discussion of democracy as a human enterprise. Goodreads
https://www.amazon.com/Good-City-Life-Renewing-Community/dp/039568630X
This Sovereign Land: A New Vision For Governing The West
“This Sovereign Land provides a provocative opening to a much-needed discussion about how democracy and ecological sustainability can go hand in hand.” BiblioVault
