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Articles written by Evan Barrett


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  • It's time to fix the student loan mess

    Evan Barrett|Updated Jun 11, 2014
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    If, as the congressional tea party says, taking money via taxes from wealthy corporations and individuals is bad for the economy, then why is it not equally bad or even worse for our economy to be extracting unnecessary money from virtually all young adults who carry student loan debt? Today, students are caught in an economic vise. Total student loan debt exceeds $1.2 trillion — more than credit card debt. Between 2004 and 2012, average student loan balances increased by 70 percent. Meanwhile, between 2000 and 2012 real m...

  • Living up to the legacy

    Evan Barrett|Updated Apr 21, 2014

    Twenty years ago, Billings set the standard for community rejection of hatred and bigotry by saying no to racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic ultra-right-wing extremist behavior. We all know the story of how extremist hateful and bigoted activity tried to send a message that you were not welcome in Billings or America if you were black, Latino, Indian, Jewish or gay. Billings’ response was a continuum of courage over many months, culminating in a single act of solidarity that was stunning in its simplicity and its s...

  • Giants among the people

    Evan Barrett|Updated Jan 31, 2014

    All of us see the world through the prism of our own experience. As I look back through that prism, I can still see, hanging on my parents’ hallway wall, three pictures — Jesus Christ, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers Union. These men, these giants, informed my family’s political and life perspective, and mine as well. The values of those three giants led me to a life of political and community activity based upon a belief that the backbone of America is the people — the wor...

  • Lee Metcalf - a great man with a sense of populism

    Evan Barrett

    This year is full of important political anniversaries — 50 years since the March on Washington and Martin Luther King's "I Had a Dream" speech; 45 years since both Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated; 45 years since the riots in Chicago during the '68 Democratic National Convention. These dramatic events helped shape the political conscience of many Americans, including me. But a special anniversary date for Montanans was on Jan 12, which was the 35th anniversary of the passing of Montana Senator Lee M...