Don Jarvis

Don is a retired BYU professor, has served three missions for the LDS Church (including as a Mission President), advises the mayor of Provo, Utah, about sustainability issues, and is active in local politics. We sat down with Don to find out how his faith and life experiences have affected his politics.

You were raised LDS, but when and how did you gain your own testimony?

As a teenager I read Joseph Smith’s account of the events surrounding the First Vision, and I was profoundly moved by them. I have been impressed by the Church’s positive influence on my own family and on society. My testimony has also been strengthened by the four missions I’ve been able to serve for the church. I first served in Helsinki, Finland, from 1959 to 1962. Since then, I served twice as a Mission President in Russia in the 90’s, and once as a humanitarian missionary in Belarus.

Where do you fit on the political spectrum?

I’m a moderate on social issues and on sustainable budgeting, and I’m a progressive on most other issues.

How does your faith affect your political beliefs?

My religious beliefs profoundly affect my political beliefs. Christ asks us to care deeply for our families and our neighbors over the long-term. To me that means that we should provide excellent education for all, exercise wise stewardship of the environment, establish ethical and just governments, extend our hands to those less fortunate, and encourage sustainable, widely-accessible economic opportunities. The LDS Church stresses self-reliance, which indicates that we should generally live within our income. I believe that government should act similarly.

My religious and political beliefs do not fit perfectly into any one political party. My views on education, the environment, ethics, and the role of democratic government usually fit better with the national and state Democratic Party. My views on social issues and the need to manage entitlements sustainably are usually closer to those of the moderate voices in the national Republican Party.

How has your family affected your political beliefs?

I’m married, and my wife, Janelle, and I have six grown children. Three boys and three girls. I hope that I’ve passed on to them a willingness to think for themselves, to take time to study political issues, and to be concerned about their posterity and neighbors. My family helps me to think long-term about what will be best for my descendants. This has sharpened my interest in excellent education, stewardship of the earth, and having reliable social safety nets.

What are the most dire problems faced by our state and our nation today?

The most pressing problem in our state and nation is the low average quality and wide variability of public K-12 education. This can be solved by instituting generous financial incentives for teachers and administrators who improve student learning. We should also make it easier to replace clearly ineffective teachers. With these policies in place, we must dramatically improve average teacher pay to attract the best young people to education.

Another problem is the federal budget deficit. This can be managed by a broad and balanced approach involving sensible policies in our largest programs — Social Security, Medicare, and defense spending — plus tax reform to sensibly return revenues to a level that is closer to our historical averages.

A third problem is illegal immigrants. The flow of illegal immigrants has been actually reversed this past year, but the plight of those here without legal status needs to be addressed firmly, wisely, and compassionately, as the LDS Church advises.

A fourth problem is the plight of the middle class and growing inequality in wealth. The richest one percent now have as much wealth as the bottom ninety percent of Americans combined, and that inequality is still growing. The education reforms I mentioned above will help, but we must also enact ethics reforms and reduce the power of money to control elections and government at all levels.

Posted on September 4, 2011. Photography by Kaitlyn Janis. Video by Talk About Productions.