Miles Community College, in collaboration with Humanities Montana, will be hosting a live webinar as part of their Speaker Series on December 6 from 4:00-5:00 pm. Dr. Rob Saldin, director of the Mansfield Center’s Ethics and Public Affairs Program and professor of political science at the University of Montana, will be hosting a live virtual presentation titled “Our Rural Urban Political Divide”.
Presentation description: “For most voters, localized considerations now take a back seat (if they have a seat at all) to nationalized considerations that have come to fully define partisan attachments. The way Americans feel about their president now determines how they feel about their Senator, their U. S. House member, and even their state legislator. This dynamic has led Democrats to prosper in urban centers but crater in rural areas, while Republicans have become nearly extinct in cities even as they thrive in rural America…Montana offers a prime example of Democrats’ collapse in rural America. This once proudly independent state was overtaken by a red wave in 2020 fueled by overwhelming GOP margins in rural counties. Yet Big Sky Country’s recent history also suggests a path for a return to Democratic competitiveness, both in Montana and in rural areas more generally. That development, along with a stronger Republican presence in urban areas, would provide the foundation for healthier politics.”
The live webinar can be found at the following link: bit.ly/speaker12621. The presentation will be hosted on the platform Zoom and will not open until the scheduled date and time. For questions or more information, please contact the Miles Community College Library at 406-874-6196 or by emailing library@milesecc.edu.
Dr. Saldin is also a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and a political analyst for the Montana Public radio. The author of three books and many scholarly journal articles, Saldin also frequently contributes to the popular press and has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among others. His family has been in Montana for four generations, primarily along the Hi-Line and in Missoula.
Humanities Montana is a nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, one of fifty-six independent councils across the United States. Established in 1972, we were created in order to better infuse the humanities into public life.
Founded in 1939, Miles Community College (MCC) was established as the first community college in the state of Montana. Nestled in the heart of Miles City, the two-year college offers a bustling campus with on-site housing, a full athletic program, and a state-of-the-art Ag Advancement Center and offers quality programs including nursing/healthcare, agriculture & equine studies, business, information technology, education, and more.
