Daniel Kemmis Interview – Citizens Uniting to Restore our Democracy

Today we talk with Daniel Kemmis. Daniel studied both philosophy and political science, and names Plato, Rousseau, Jefferson, and Gandhi as his primary influences. He was minority leader and speaker of the house in the Montana State Legislature during the ‘80s, when the Sagebrush Rebellion was at its height. Later, he served as Mayor of Missoula. The intense dysfunction of those times, together with the fiercely contested land issues, inspired Kemmis to write the seminal book Community and the Politics of Place, and develop the Kemmis method for finding compromise.

This method is tried and true as Springdale native and Zion Canyon Mesa board member Louise Excell attests. Louise interviews Daniel, and they spend some time recalling the “Embracing Opposites” conference which brought Daniel to Springdale, Utah to help the divided community, a national park gateway community experiencing intense growing pains, find compromise.

Citizens Uniting To Restore Our Democracy