Author Archive
Can we tax our way out of irresponsible debt?
Congress believes irresponsible debt and spending is needed to rectify the problems created by irresponsible debt and spending. Further, it believes raising taxes to pay for its irresponsible debt will actually stimulate spending. My father was raised on a farm in eastern Nebraska, sheltered from this unique congressional economic theory. He lived through the […]
Responsibility and self-respect
George Bernard Shaw said, “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” Are we willing to abandon self-respect for a handout? Are we willing to surrender risk and reward for indentured servitude to the government? Are we willing to exchange freedom and opportunity for a welfare state? We condemn the woman who recently […]
Is the United States an empire in demise?
George Bernard Shaw said, “We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.” What did our Founding Fathers want for this United States of America? Did they want complacency? Did they hope for mediocrity? Did they dream of dependency? Or, did they demand freedom and opportunity; freedom and opportunity at any price. What have […]
The herd immunity of gun ownership
Herd immunity describes what happens when immunizing part of a community provides protection for those in the community who are not immunized. This usually refers to infectious diseases that spread from person-to-person, like measles, mumps, and the like. This occurs because the more people in a community who are immunized, the less likely an unimmunized […]
“Make my day” gun laws
Guns are back in the news, or perhaps more correctly, still in the news, this time in Colorado. A 22-year-old man drove home with a blood alcohol of 0.26, three times the legal limit. He drove to the wrong house, beat on the front door hollering obscenities when he could not get in, went to […]
What should we ask Congress?
Last week President Obama reprimanded Wall Street CEOs’ for their outrageous salaries and spending, saying they must show “restraint and responsibility.” Should he have admonished Congress instead, because it puts Wall Street executives to shame with irresponsible spending? Moreover, Congress displays righteous indignation toward companies going on extravagant junkets and sponsoring lavish conferences, while it […]
“to provide for the…general welfare of the United States”
Our Founding Fathers fought the Revolutionary War to free us from a government that controlled our lives. They created the United States of America with a Constitution granting specific, limited powers to the government, guaranteeing that “We the people” controlled the government. So how does Congress regularly circumvent the Constitution, expanding their power without “We […]
Roosevelt or Reagan?
Our country’s leaders believe President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal ended the Great Depression and saved the economy. Are they right? Did his New Deal end the depression or even shorten it? Take a moment and consider the Roosevelt logic Congress is using with our current situation. They believe they can fix the economy if they […]
Israel or Palestine?
President Harry Truman said, “No two historians ever agree on what happened, and the damn thing is they both think they’re telling the truth.” Imagine tracing your ancestry back thousands of years to the land they were driven from, the land you are now asking to have returned to you. Imagine living on the land […]
California’s latest budget crisis
Experts projected California would have budget deficits of more than $35 billion, requiring massive budget cuts and tax increases. The Governor proposed $17 billion in program cuts and $8.3 billion in tax increases. Education programs faced over $2.7 billion in cuts with proposed additional cuts of $5.2 billion. In a recall petition, the governor was […]
You’re Beulah’s son, aren’t you?
Several years ago my wife and I were in Arrick’s Fly Shop in West Yellowstone, Montana. She was wearing a sweatshirt from the Bolder Boulder 10k Memorial Day Road Race, which my brother founded in Boulder, Colorado, in 1978. An older man working in the shop came over to my wife and asked about her sweatshirt saying […]
Sand and stone – NEW YEAR’S
There is a story about two merchants in ancient Persia, Mussah and Nagib. They were traveling together in a caravan and one evening set up camp near a river’s edge. Nagib accidentally fell into the river and Mussah, without hesitation, jumped in and saved his friend. Nagib immediately had his servant carve on the face […]
Finding your way home – CHRISTMAS
Several years ago, I wanted to find more trails for mountain biking near our cabin because they are scarce in Targhee National Forest. I remembered seeing game trails while riding the few available trails and decided to ride game trails and also cross-country to connect trails, creating longer bike trails. But doing this would require […]
Is FDR’s New Deal the answer?
Did President Franklin Roosevelt and his “New Deal” shorten the recovery from the Great Depression? Was government intervention in the economy helpful or hurtful or both? Some economists suggest the government manipulated market forces too much and actually prolonged the recovery. President Roosevelt put into effect his recovery plan immediately after his inauguration in 1933, […]
What are blue laws?
The Founding Fathers built our nation with a religious foundation. I believe they wanted religion in government; but did they want government in religion? Let us look at the ‘blue’ laws, created by well-meaning people to enforce moral standards, including keeping Sunday as a day of worship and rest. Most blue laws were passed before […]
God bless America
Is the day coming when we must say “In nothing we trust,” or “So help me nothing,” or “Nothing bless America?” Educators in Woodbury, Vermont cowered to such demands and make students who want to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to do so away from the classroom, so no one can hear the word God. […]
Should gay marriage be legal?
On November 4th three more states passed constitutional amendments refusing to legalize gay marriage, raising the total to thirty states with similar amendments. Gays were outraged at the outcome and at those who did not support legalizing gay marriage. Gay rights activists are attacking the Mormon Church because it backed the initiative against gay marriage. […]
What really happened November 4th?
What really happened on November 4th? Whom did we elect as President? Did we elect a liberal, leftist, socialist President; a gun control President or a welfare President? Maybe we elected an African-American President, a hyphenated President that Theodore Roosevelt expressed displeasure with in a speech in 1915 saying, “There is no room in this […]
We ask them to kill – VETERAN’S DAY
We ask our military to do the unspeakable, the unthinkable. We ask them to kill fellow human beings. We ask of them what we are unable to ask of ourselves. Moreover, we do not want to see or know what they do. We are appalled when we see a television image of a marine killing […]
The fraud of socialism
Leicester University in England recently ranked Denmark as the happiest country. What is their secret? By their own admission they are a socialist, welfare state providing everything for everyone from birth to death. And they freely, almost proudly admit they pay for it with the highest income taxes in the world. Were we wrong to […]