Topic

Opinion

The Opinion section of Western Montana News is where ideas take center stage. Featuring editorials, columns, op-eds, and letters, this space highlights diverse perspectives on local and national issues. From in-depth analysis to passionate viewpoints, we encourage open and thoughtful discussion.

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Montana Water Compact Gives Away Our Rights

Fellow Montanans, We have been given the opportunity to defend our water rights against the over-reach of the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Water Compact.  I am writing this letter to shed light on the CSKT Compact, and share the process for submitting an objection to the Water Court. Yes, your water rights will be…

America’s Hunger Games

In 2012, Americans flocked to the theater to witness the airing of a new dystopian film called The Hunger Games. In this post-apocalyptic feature, there are twelve districts where one girl and one boy are forced to serve as sacrificial tributes to the Capital of Panem. They are the punishment meted out on the people…

Montana Schools Head Gathers All Sides in Billings

Who would gather parents, superintendents and administrators, school board members, union leaders and members, legislators, and community members all in one room and hand a microphone around? No one is that crazy. Yet last Thursday night, that is exactly what happened. Only a humble and gracious person could have a room full of all these…

Replacing a Montana Senator

The resignation of Republican State Senator Terry Gauthier (SD-40, Helena) revealed systemic issues in the replacement process that should be addressed by the State Legislature and Montana GOP. At the end of November, I was officially notified that one of Montana’s state senators submitted his resignation halfway through his four-year term. The process to replace…

The Left’s Weaponization of Montana’s Economy

This op-ed was originally published in the Substack titled “Brutus” on December 3rd, 2022. Through basic observation, we all know that certain types of industries attract different classes and kinds of people with different beliefs and politics. The oil, mining, and raw material production industries are comprised mostly of conservative blue-collar, middle-class men.  To the…

America 2075

There was a small window of time between the years 2020 and 2024 to turn back the tide of tyranny washing over the shores of the Constitutional Republic that was once a free United States of America. But the few who saw it coming had no voice to warn people, and for many who finally…

I Have Front Row Seats to the Political Theater

As intermission arrives the curtain closes, the audience rises in applause. People move to the break area and the stage is reset for Act II and beyond. Act I ended in a cliff hanger and what happens next only a few are allowed to know. The main characters remain the same while some of the…

Aftermath of the Red Trickle, 2022

This report was originally published in Poor Roger’s Almanac on November 9th, 2022. Like many other people, I was expecting at least a wave which was discernible. Heck, I even predicted that ten months ago. “The 2022 mid-term elections will result in the Democrats being decimated and the Republicans securely ensconced as the majority party…

Unrestricted Voting Threatens Montanans Liberty

This report was originally published in the Substack titled “Brutus” on August 6th, 2022. As most Montanans know, there are a multitude of serious issues with our current voting system. From election fraud to non-citizens voting, the list goes on. But there is another issue with our voting process that I would like to call your attention…

Bukacek Questioning Green Energy Sources is Not “Anti-Green”

Considering the cost to build, maintain, and dispose of wind turbines, calling wind power renewable because we have wind is equivalent to saying automobiles are renewable because we have roads. It just does not add up.

Montana Democrats Abortion Privacy Defense Falls Flat After COVID Authoritarianism

After two years of Montana Democrats gleefully and vigorously advocating for the forced-masking and forced-vaccination of their fellow Montanans, their sudden defense of “health privacy” in service of codifying abortion into Montana law through judicial activism exposes not only their hypocrisy, but their ignorance. Prominent Montana Democrats including former elected Democrats and Democrat-aligned non-profits have…

Voting–An Endorsement of Power, Control, and Theft

[Note: This article was first published on September 15, 2022 at Poor Roger’s Almanac.] The 2022 mid-term elections are rapidly approaching–Election Day, November 08, is only seven weeks away. Everything I see and hear tells me that the politicians who want to be elected (and those who want to see them elected) are doing everything…

The Lesser of Two Evils is Still Evil

Ryan Zinke’s congressional candidacy has once again shone a spotlight on a concept I like to call “Einstein’s definition of political insanity”: the action of voting for the lesser of two evils, repeatedly (simply because “he’s a Republican!”), and thinking that, magically, the candidate will morph into a principled politician. Someone who instead looks out…

Montana Democrats Disenfranchise Rural Voters

Maps Submitted By Montana Democrats Play for Keeps, Zero Compromise

Montana Non-Profits Put Our Sovereignty and Elections at Risk

The release of the documentary film 2000 Mules awakened millions of American voters to the blatant manipulation of the 2020 election. Figuring prominently in this exposé were non-governmental organizations or NGO’s. Non-governmental organizations are often identified as non-profits whose stated goals are to promote humanitarian or social benefits to deserving communities or groups. However, the…

Montana Media’s #HatchetGirls

Mainstream Montana journalists are growing harder and harder to distinguish from the rapid response communications teams of the Montana Democratic Party and the Democratic Party nationally. Self-described “journalists” Ashley Nerbovig and Skylar Rispens are the official #HatchetGirls of the Montana establishment media. Why is it that these alleged reporters cannot seem to quote conservatives without…

Republican’s “Big Tent”: A Flawed Philosophy

People claiming to be “conservative” like to champion the value of Reagan’s concept of the “Big Tent”, welcoming everyone into the party to win the vote. Let’s examine this “value” by looking through history since value can only be established by grading results. The concept of a “big tent” gave us our first president to…

Montana DPHHS Should Keep Rule Barring Sex Change on Birth Certificate

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services allowed public comment today during a hearing where they considered keeping an emergency rule that bars individuals from changing their sex on their birth certificate while Senate Bill 280 is being challenged in court by the ACLU and other plaintiffs. SB 280, passed in the 2021…