About

I’m Matt. I’m a Utahn and a Democrat, the kind who would rather solve a problem than win an argument.

That makes me a bit unusual here. Most Utahns aren’t loyal to a party so much as to a set of values: work hard, take care of your family, help your neighbor, stay out of debt, and leave things better than you found them. I share those values, and I don’t think either party owns them. Good principles can be found in more than one party, and in plenty of people who belong to neither.

What I believe

Stewardship. What we’ve been given, from the Great Salt Lake to the federal budget, isn’t ours to use up. It’s ours to take care of and pass on in better shape.

Self-reliance, and caring for those who can’t. People should be able to provide for their own families through their own work. And when someone falls on hard times through no fault of their own, a decent society doesn’t look away. Those two ideas belong together.

Families come first. Policy should make it easier to marry, raise kids, buy a home, and care for aging parents, not harder.

The worth of every person. Every person deserves to be treated with dignity, whether they were born here or came here, and whether they vote like me or not.

Civility. Utah has shown the country that people with deep disagreements can sit down and find common ground. Washington could use a lot more of that.

Why these papers

Every issue on this site comes with a real plan, real numbers, and sources you can check. Some of these ideas will draw fire from the left and some from the right. That’s usually a sign they’re worth talking about.

I’d rather show my work than hand you a slogan. If you think I’ve got something wrong, tell me.