United States Senator John Curtis visited BYU campus on March 17, discussing his journey from being a BYU student, to working in major positions of government and inspiring current BYU students in own personal career journeys.
Curtis has served as Provo’s mayor and a U.S. representative and is now one of Utah’s two U.S. senators. The BYU Political Affairs Society and Political Science Department hosted the event at the Hinckley Center. U.S. Representative Celeste Maloy and BYU President C. Shane Reese were also in attendance.
Curtis began his address by comparing his time as a BYU student in the 1980s to the state of BYU today. When he was a student, he swept parking lots and taught Chinese at the Missionary Training Center.
“If you had told me at that time that I would eventually serve as the mayor of Provo, I would say that is never going to happen, I won't even live in Provo,” Curtis said. “If you told me that I would serve in the U.S. Senate, I would say, ‘What, are you absolutely crazy?’”
He encouraged students to create alliances, which he explained with the story of the first female state senator, Martha Hughes Cannon. She persuaded an all-male delegation to give women the right to vote in Utah’s constitution by creating an alliance with these men.
He further emphasized this with a story of U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal. While Curtis and Jayapal often do not agree on political issues, they still became allies. They even co-sponsored a bill that would allow people who are at risk of taking their own lives to voluntarily put their names on a list that would prevent them from buying a gun.
Curtis then advocated for students to find common ground with each other like he and Jayapal did.
“There is not a single person on this campus that you don't have some cross section of common ground with,” Curtis said.
He told a story from a past family home evening where, when an individual was asked to break a single stick, he easily broke it. But when he was asked to break two sticks bundled together, he couldn’t break them.
“The motto was, ‘In unity, there is strength,’” Curtis said. “When we're one, we’re easily broken. But when we band together, we can't be broken.”
He argued even during the current unrest in the United States, the nation is still the greatest in the world.
“On our worst day, everybody wants to be us,” Curtis said. “Every period that's been difficult for us, we come out of (it) a better country than when we went into it.”
He called the U.S. a “self-healing country” and said he believed the U.S. Constitution was inspired by God. He said the responsibility to keep the country this way now rests on BYU students’ shoulders.
“If there was no BYU, I would be worried,” Curtis said. “In this room and on this campus are the calibers of people that know how to use allies and alliances, who know how to use ‘in unity, there is strength’ and these principles that we've talked about to go make this the type of country you want it to be for your kids.”
He said even though times in the U.S. may be rough, BYU students are being built to withstand the turbulence.
“If we could reconvene in this room in 20 or 30 years, there's a U.S. senator sitting right out there,” he said. “There’s a mayor of Provo, maybe even the president of the United States, sitting in this room.”
After his main address, Curtis answered student questions. When asked what qualities students should cultivate if they want to work in the government, he recommended students become good people.
“Don't overthink about where you want to end up. Go be a good person and do good things and the game will come to you,” he said.
BYU political science professor Elizabeth McGuire was the moderator for these questions. She mentioned the recent federal layoffs and asked Curtis what advice he had for students who may have lost hope in eventually working for the federal government.
Curtis said students entering the workforce can find layoffs and uncertainties in any field. Students should exercise patience, try to be good people, create alliances and find common ground with others.
Curtis said he didn’t know want he wanted for a career before his mission, but he continued to work hard to be a good, responsible and studious individual. This sparked his journey to the federal government.
“If you think service for the federal government is your thing, if you think service overseas is your thing, don't give up on that,” Curtis said. “That doesn't mean you won't have rough days. That doesn't mean you may not go work for the federal government and get laid off. It means you'll be okay if that's what happens.”
When asked if he could change any aspect of the way in which the government functions today, Curtis argued others in the government talk or act in outrageous ways to grow social media followings.
“We are rewarding bad behavior in Washington, D.C., and when good behavior happens, it goes totally ignored and unrecognized,” he said. “The ones who scream and shout and yell are recognized and have a million followers and end up on cable news, and they're not moving our country forward.”
When McGuire mentioned some believe Congress is not acting as a check or balance against the executive branch, Curtis reminded her that the people, not the Senate, elect the president.
“I think we need to take a harder look at our families, our communities, and why we're electing the type of people that we’re electing instead of looking to Washington, D.C. to fix it,” Curtis said.
While government branches have some power to restrict other branches, it is not a complete power, Curtis said. He argued the judicial branch is most active in checking the president’s actions, which was what the founders of the nation had intended. Congress moves much slower than the judicial branch, meaning it may take months for Congress to pass legislation to check the president.
When asked how people can begin to trust the government, Curtis suggested students think about running for civic leadership positions.
“I have full confidence (the government will) head back (to being trustworthy) because of great people like we have here,” Curtis said.
Kendra Pinegar, president of the Political Affairs Society, said she has interned at Curtis’ office.
“Regardless of whether you hold his political views or not, he does a really good job of trying to reach across the aisles,” Pinegar said. “It makes me more interested in seeing how my beliefs as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can help me be more Christlike and work more to make those kinds of across-the-aisle connections.”
Joe Peterson, vice president of the Political Affairs Society, acknowledged citizens of the U.S. are experiencing a confusing time in government.
“I do feel like I left (the event) with some hope and optimism,” Peterson said. “With real action items of, ‘Okay, here’s how you can get involved in your own community.’ We may not be able to change the world, but we can change our communities.”