Author: Joe Ricketts

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Congratulations Todd on Your Rite of Passage

There are certain rites of passage in life – events like Baptisms, graduations, weddings, and retirement.  These are the moments when you pass from one phase of your life to the next.  At those times, the person passing through the rite of passage might reflect a little on his life.  Others might offer him congratulations.

So I’d like to congratulate my son Todd on his rite of passage this week when The New Yorker magazine wrote a profile about him and his work for President Trump.  Todd joins other conservative leaders who The New Yorker has attacked because they promote different values than the magazine or support political candidates the magazine doesn’t like.  The list includes people like Paul Singer, Charles and David Koch, Peter Thiel, Robert Mercer, and Foster Friess. 

I’m proud for Todd to join this list of principled conservatives and hope he keeps working hard to promote economic opportunity through deregulation and lower taxes.  Congratulations Todd!

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The History of Little Jackson Hole, Wyoming

A few weeks ago, I posted about why I named my ranch Jackson Fork Ranch.  Some folks asked me about this blog post and why I refer to the area where my ranch is as “Little Jackson Hole.”

Since we bought Jackson Fork Ranch a little more than 20 years ago, I’ve tried to learn more about the area – the Upper Hoback Valley.  My early research revealed some interesting things.  First and foremost, I learned that the name “Bondurant” is a relatively recent creation, having been introduced in the early 1900s when Benjamin Franklin Bondurant’s ranch served as the area’s first post office.  For more than 70 years before that, however, the historical records suggested the area had been known as “Little Jackson Hole” or Jackson’s Little Hole.” 

But I’m no expert, so in 2018 I asked historian Elizabeth Watry to conduct comprehensive research into the area’s history.  Ms. Watry had served as Curator for The Museum of the Mountain Man in Pindale, WY and came to the project with a deep knowledge of the area.  (Fun fact:  The Ricketts Art Foundation partnered with The Museum of the Mountain Man and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West to create Fur Traders and Rendezvous, the largest collection of Western art by Alfred Jacob Miller.)

I learned some absolutely fascinating things about the Upper Hoback Valley from Ms. Watry’s 110-page report, including:

  • The nine-mile long and four-mile wide valley in Sublette County, Wyoming recognized today as Bondurant was once known as Jackson’s Little Hole by hundreds of fur trappers and traders, a few missionaries, and assorted other Euro-American travelers and explorers in the area between the early  1830s and 1878. 
  • Warren Ferris may have written the first usage of the place name Jackson’s Little Hole in early August 1832.
  • Almost 70 years later, Benjamin Franklin Bondurant became one of the first settlers in Hoback Basin once known as Jacksons’ Little Hole. His ranch served as the first Post Office, which began operation in 1903. Mrs. Bondurant worked as postmistress until 1926. Bondurant was the Post Office name from 1903 until 1935. From 1935 until 1938, the Post Office was named Triangle F Ranch. In 1938, the name Bondurant was reinstated.

I find the history of this charming place to be quite interesting and thought I would share Ms. Watry’s excellent work with those who might enjoy reading it for themselves.  Ms. Watry’s complete report – along with its copies of the maps and historical artifacts –  is available right here.  I hope you enjoy it!

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An Intolerance of Opposing Views

I tend to have ideas about many different topics.  I like to share those ideas but when I write them out sometimes something gets lost – I don’t always love my own writing. 

On my book, The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get, I worked with a very talented writer, Greg Lichtenberg.  Greg and I sat together many, many times over the course of a few years and, in the end, I was pleased with the result.  The experience gave me the idea that I could do something similar on this blog.  So sometimes on this blog, when I have an idea or opinion I can’t express in writing as clearly as I want, I’m going to ask for some help from people I think can work with me to get my idea out better than I could manage on my own.  When I do that, I am going to mention having gotten the help.  For the piece I am posting today, I asked Alfred Levitt to work with me on the writing – my ideas and views with help from Alfred on the writing.

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I’ve long believed that a diversity of opinion is essential for our society to prosper.  I oppose shouting down people who express competing views.  It’s in thoughtful disagreement that sustainable progress can happen – silencing those who hold different opinions doesn’t end well.

So the recently published letter, A Letter on Justice and Open Debate, struck a chord with me, despite its overtly anti-Trump frame.  (Yes, I support President Trump.)  The letter, authored by academics, artists, and thought leaders, argues that spreading more widely in our culture is:

an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty. We uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter-speech from all quarters. But it is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought.

I agree. 

Counter-speech is a critical part of a healthy society.  So while I believe socialism, despite its surface appeal, will destroy economic opportunity and leave more people in poverty, I support the right – and indeed the responsibility – of those who believe in socialism to express their views.  I don’t always like what they have to say, but I believe entirely in their right to say it.

Now let me anticipate a criticism those who dislike President Trump might offer: “how can an old, white, rich guy seriously claim to oppose shouting down opposition when Trump is among the offenders?”  All I’ll say about that is I’ve never found a politician with whom I agree fully on everything.

What I do believe is that a big part of the intolerance to counter-speech comes from our University system.  In his book The Breakdown of Higher Education, Professor John Ellis argues that the silencing of competing perspectives at Universities has its roots in a shift among faculty over the past 50 years from mildly left-leaning to something much more radical.  But when competing perspective is silenced and debate eliminated, something essential is lost.  I believe we’re seeing the hangover from this shift rippling through society in a way that’s not good for anyone in the long run.

Adding gasoline on this fire are social and traditional media, which produce echo chambers where personal views are reinforced because people are only exposed to “like-minded” perspectives.  It’s a dynamic that promotes an intolerance for competing ideas.  I think that’s a bad deal – hearing competing ideas, although uncomfortable at times, is critical. 

People should be armed with facts as much as humanly possible so they can make up their own minds about things.  And they should be free to express their own views without being attacked for doing so.

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Change at the Village PieMaker

Today, we closed the Village PieMaker production facility in Eustis, Nebraska.  It was a difficult decision, and not one I reached lightly.  The Eustis location was Village PieMaker’s first production facility and it stands as an important part of the company’s history. 

As the Village PieMaker has become one of the fastest-growing pie brands in the United States, I’ve made substantial investments in our Nebraska production facilities. This has included building a new, state of the art facility in Omaha while trying to upgrade the Eustis plant to keep pace with customer demand.

Growth at the Village PieMaker has come with new challenges as our new national retail customers require our production facilities to meet enhanced food safety standards.  As I studied this issue with my management team, it became clear that upgrading the Eustis plant to meet these standards was not feasible, and so I concluded it’s best to streamline operations, consolidating production at our modern Omaha facility.

I know how important employees are for making a business successful.  The Village PieMaker has offered all current Eustis production employees positions at the Omaha facility.  We’ve also made arrangements to ease the burden on those employees who choose not to accept employment in Omaha.

While my decision to close the Eustis facility was not an easy one, I believe it positions Village PieMaker for long-term success – success that will mean good jobs for more people as more and more households around the country are introduced to our wonderful, Nebraska-made pies.

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Opportunity Education’s Quest Forward Academy Message of Gratitude

There are few things I find more uplifting than the optimism of young people.  And so I was quite pleased to see this video that students at Opportunity Education’s Quest Forward Academy, Santa Rosa put together, expressing gratitude for the hard work so many men and women are doing to keep us going through the current coronavirus crisis. 

Better still, producing this video wasn’t an assignment – it was an idea that came from the Quest Forward Academy Student Council.  Student leaders planned and directed the filming, and one student – the Student Council President – edited the final product.

Gratitude is a wonderful feeling to share and I am so glad these young people took the time to do so.