Governing Without Congress

January 11, 2019

If America’s founders had been forced to choose between having no Congress, or no President, they would quickly have chosen the latter. They knew all too well the abuses of an all-powerful monarch. But they also knew complex governments cannot be run by committee, so the delicate system of “checks and balances” between executive and […]

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But Wait, We’re Against That, Too

January 4, 2019

A political mentor once explained to me why civility is key to long-term success, noting that “today’s worst enemy may be tomorrow’s only friend.” The reverse is also true. Erin Mundahl, an Inside Sources energy reporter, writes about left-leaning green-oriented resort towns coming under fire from environmental activists. She highlights a controversy raging in Whistler, […]

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A Small Step, or a Giant Leap?

December 21, 2018

In 1961, President Kennedy established a national goal “before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” We did. Not long after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969, President Nixon proclaimed a similarly vital national goal, to end America’s dependence on foreign oil […]

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And Now, a Word From the Concerned

December 18, 2018

A highly publicized report this month was titled “Science Under Siege at the Department of the Interior.” Wow. The implication is that every morning the Secretary, his staff, and his boss the President, wake up wondering what they can do to rid the world of science and scientists. The report comes from a group called […]

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“Green New Deal” – Neither Green, nor New, nor a Deal

December 14, 2018

Campaign slogans have been amazingly consistent for a century. After Theodore Roosevelt’s “Square Deal,” two-word slogans were the fashion. Wilson pledged a “New Freedom,” FDR a “New Deal,” and Truman a “Fair Deal.” JFK promised a “New Frontier,” LBJ a “Great Society,” Bill Clinton a “New Covenant,” and Ronald Reagan a “New Beginning.” Barack Obama’s […]

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Defining Conflicts of Interest

December 7, 2018

Today’s broadcast media often seems able to handle only one story at a time. Big cable networks fixate on one event, sometimes for days, until the next event displaces it. Round-the-clock coverage of elections, random shootings, royal weddings, or presidential tweets leave us wondering if anything else is happening anywhere. Similarly, the environmental press hangs […]

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The Voters Have Spoken – But What Did They Say?

November 28, 2018

Near the end of the late-night election reporting, one commentator said the results did not feel like the anticipated “blue wave,” but “more like purple rain.” It was an apt description of an election that produced only mixed results for either side. Sovereignty in America does not belong to government, but to citizens, and they […]

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A Never Ending Story

November 23, 2018

When Durango attorney Gerry McDaniel and I walked into the Colorado Water Congress in 1991, we felt like strangers entering a saloon in old western movies – the piano player stops while the entire room stares. I was president of Club 20 and Gerry chaired its Water Committee. Several Western Slope legislators were already there: […]

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The Sky is Falling!

November 16, 2018

A new report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) claims humans have killed more than half the all the wildlife in the world since 1970. The report attracted media mass attention, though if you read the entire 145-page essay, it doesn’t really say that, much less prove it. More ironic, the political focus is mostly […]

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This Hits Us Where We Live

November 9, 2018

I have a friend who is always very forthcoming with opinions on almost any subject, although when talking politics he often ends with, “It doesn’t really affect me one way or the other.” We all feel that way sometimes, because our political system can be completely paralyzed by excruciating details of the most inconsequential issues. […]

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