MINOT, N.D. — You probably read some headlines this weekabout a congressional hearing, hosted on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, at which North Dakota’s voter ID laws were characterized as a calculated effort to suppress Native American voters. In truth the field hearing was a sham. A partisan stunt choreographed to produce the very headlines you…
Print Column: Don’t Let Politicians Deflect Criticism by Playing Victim
MINOT, N.D. — The idea that President Donald Trump put Rep. Ilhan Omar in danger because he tweeted criticism of her is absurd. And yet, it’s become a talking point for Democrats up to and including certain candidates who would like to replace Trump in the White House. Trump’s criticism of Omar’s remarks about the 9/11 attacks…
Print Column: Should the Legacy Fund Be Used Only to Grow Government?
MINOT, N.D. – North Dakota House Republicans have resurrected an idea to use Legacy Fund earnings as a way to reduce and eventually eliminate the state’s income tax. This is a unique idea among proposals for how to use the billions we’ve tucked away in that piggy bank in that it’s the only one which reduces the…
Print Column: There Should Be Consequences for Refusing to Vaccinate
MINOT, N.D. – Over the last week I’ve published a print column and a podcast about the vaccination issue, noting the resurgence of communicable diseases like measles and the rise in the number of North Dakota parents opting their children out of vaccines. The response to these pieces was ugly. My inbox and social media feeds filled up with…
Print Column: North Dakota Is Still Seeing a Rising Tide of Anti-Vaccination Sentiment
MINOT, N.D. – “Measles Count in US This Year Already More Than All of 2018” is a headline which popped up in my feeds this week. It was not an April Fool’s prank (a holiday feels a bit superfluous in the strange days of 2019). The headline is real news from The Associated Press. “The…
Print Column: Stop Throwing Pies
MINOT, N.D. — In this moment of American politics we spend little time debating actual policy. For the politicians and pundits, policy has become merely an excuse for a protracted national soap opera. A thin veneer over what is little more than a pie throwing contest. Take state Rep. Mary Adams, a Democrat from Grand…
Print Column: We’re Going to Do Something Stupid With the Legacy Fund
MINOT, N.D. — We’re going to end up doing something really, really dumb with the Legacy Fund. It was created by the North Dakota Legislature, with approval from the voters, back in 2010. As of February the fund had about $5 billion in it thanks to revenues from oil and gas development. Yet, at this…
Print Column: We Are Too Deferential to Law Enforcement
MINOT, N.D. — America’s vast military might resides under civilian control. The commander-in-chief of our armed forces is the President of the United States, and for good reason. Law enforcement, too, is under civilian control. Or it’s supposed to be anyway. Given the deference shown toward cops it can seem like the tail is wagging…
Print Column: The Left’s New Anti-Fossil Fuel McCarthyism
MINOT, N.D. — “Why did Wells Fargo fiance this pipeline when it was widely seen to be environmentally unstable?” That was a question Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, left wing media darling and ideological martinet, asked Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan during a recent hearing. The pipeline she’s referring to is the Dakota Access Pipeline. You’ll remember…
Print Column: If We’re Already Socialists, Why Are the Socialist Activists So Angry?
MINOT, N.D. — Modern proponents of socialism have become so desperate to divorce their ideology from its ugly realities – North Korea under the Kims, Cuba under the Castros, Venezuela under Chavez and Maduro – they’ve taken to a sort of white washing through dilution. They’re defining anyone in favor of any level of civic…