The Unproud Western Legacy of Jimmy Carter

January 14, 2025

Alaska comprises nearly 20 percent of the entire U.S. at over 665,000 square miles, and is the richest state in natural resources. Yet it remains the most sparsely populated state, partly because of its isolation and weather, but largely because the federal government owns most of it, 406,000 square miles. The U.S. purchased Alaska in […]

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Is Government Going to the DOGE?

January 3, 2025

A lot of jokes about Elon Musk are making the rounds, in light of his new role in identifying government waste, fraud and abuse. One says after he puts a car into orbit, outer space will be full of germs and diseases, no longer auto-immune. Another asks what he has in common with Thomas Edison. […]

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Federal Agencies Should Look in the Mirror

December 18, 2024

In the 1950 movie version of Grimm’s Fairy Tale, the cruel stepmother scolds Cinderella, “You clumsy little fool – clean that up!” But of course, it was the stepmother, not Cinderella, who made the mess. Sometimes it seems like the world is full of people who expect others to clean up their messes. It is […]

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Time is on Colorado’s Side – No Need to Rush

December 10, 2024

An early lesson I learned as a young staffer for the late Senator Bill Armstrong was the importance of careful consideration. He disliked being rushed into hasty decisions and developed a standard response to any demand for immediate action. “If you need an answer right now,” he would say, “the answer is no.” If there […]

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Taking Private Land for Public… Nothing

November 5, 2024

The Fifth Amendment is an essential part of the Bill of Rights, ensuring, “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” Sometimes private property stands in the way of public progress, such as when highways are built. The public good cannot be held hostage by one owner, whose refusal to sell […]

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Why Bipartisanship Still Matters

November 1, 2024

When President Kennedy explained the goal of sending a man to the moon, he said the nation chose to do such things “not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills…” We often face challenges that are difficult, […]

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Who Decides What’s a Public Road?

October 22, 2024

Several years ago, Utah filed a suit insisting that the federal government turn over to the State 12,000 roads that cross federal lands within Utah. Few officials noticed, as disputes over who controls public roads on federal lands are nothing new. But the federal judge hearing this case just sent shock waves through Washington with […]

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Climate Protocols – the Ultimate Entangling Alliances

October 18, 2024

The “doctrine of unstable alliances” in George Washington’s “Farewell Address” underpinned U.S. foreign policy for decades and is still considered wise, though mostly ignored. “The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible,” Washington wrote. “It […]

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Nature is Cruel – Voters Shouldn’t Be

October 11, 2024

One of the most popular speakers at Club 20 in the 1990s was a Montana logger named Bruce Vincent, founder of a PR firm called Environomics, Inc. He was, and is, one of the country’s most inspiring and entertaining speakers on natural resources and conservation issues. I still remember his description of “the Walt Disney […]

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Corridors of National Interest – or Special Interest?

October 4, 2024

Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual famously advised, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” he explained, “What I mean by that [is] it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” He was talking about the financial crisis of 2008, which Congress was so desperate to […]

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