522: 'I get frustrated because we're pretending like we're doing something'

Rep. Kelly Armstrong, who is currently in the midst of a campaign to become North Dakota's next governor, has had a long career in public service. On this episode of Plain Talk, he told my co-host Chad Oban and I what his proudest moment has been from that career (so far, he's still a young man in political years).

He said it was helping his hometown, Dickinson, build a new baseball complex.

It was a reminder that Armstrong's track record of public service didn't begin in elected office. In fact, that's probably true of most of our elected leaders, even at the highest levels of government. We can be cynical about politics. We're certainly given good reason to be much of the time. But there's something nice in being reminded that political careers often start with public service at a granular level.

Unfortunately, much of what we discussed on this episode is the sort of thing that justifies our cynicism about political leadership. Armstrong expressed frustration about the House of Representatives going out on recess without having completed the appropriations process. "I don't think Congress has done a budget in 25 years that's an actual budget," he said.

"I get frustrated because we're pretending like we're doing something," he added.

Armstrong also weighed in on the presidential race, saying Democrats are enjoying a "sugar high" around their new candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, while acknowledging that the rollout of Sen. J.D. Vance as former President Donald Trump's running mate has been rocky.

Armstrong also talked about what his priorities in Bismarck might be should he be elected come November, and one of them is the state's budget. "Our growth in spending has been pretty significant since 2012," he said, and while much of that was "necessary" when it happened, it may be time to curb the growth.

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