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John Livingston

The Price and Cost of Medicaid

After the last legislative session, a special task force was convened to explore how to save money in the Idaho Medicaid program. There are only three ways to save money in the Medicaid program: reduce the number of people on Medicaid, provide people with fewer services, and reduce payments to providers. After the 2024 session […]

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John Livingston

Time for an Idaho DOGE

Political transactions and economic transactions are very different. In most of our daily economic transactions we give up something we want in the form of a tangible asset or our own valuable time. Since the days of the barter a tangible representation of the value of the asset or our time is needed to facilitate […]

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John Livingston

Nibling Around the Edges Again

Last week I went to a meeting at the State House Sponsored by the Idaho Majority Club. The meeting was informative and featured presentations by the co-chairs of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC), Senator Scot Grow and Representative Wendy Horman. Full disclosure, I have a professional relationship with Mr. Grow’s Accounting firm. We […]

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John Livingston

The Smartest Dude in the Room

Smart people understand that there are many components to intelligence. Cognition, judgement, a virtuous morality upon which to base our thoughts are what connect intelligence and knowledge to WISDOM. It has been my experience that when in the presence of great intelligence, the smartest person in the room doesn’t need to tell everybody in the […]

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John Livingston

Come as you are, not stay as you are

At the National Prayer Service at The National Cathedral the day after the inauguration The Reverend Mariann Edger Budde lectured our President who was sitting in the first-row feet from the pulpit from which she was preaching. Her words were at best officious, sanctimonious, and condescending. They were actually demeaning to the very people to […]

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John Livingston

Social Justice Requires Social Discipline

Since Covid, States including Idaho have used accounting gimmicks to “scam” Federal Medicaid Dollars into programs like food stamps—The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and housing subsidies. In an Editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal, by simply returning Medicaid spending to pre Covid levels adjusted for inflation over $1.4 trillion in savings could be realized […]

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John Livingston

Govern and Campaign from the Outside In

What a great day for Christian Conservatives was Jan 20th, 2025. Our new Great Awakening was captured in one of the great Benedictions after Mr. Trump took the oath of office: Refreshing and inspiring to say the least. LET FREEDOM RING by Pastor Lorenzo Sewell: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/01/20/let-freedom-ring-pastor-lorenzo-sewell-praises-god-millimeter-miracle-that-saved-trumps-life/. At the end of a great day for me—THE […]

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John Livingston

Prepare to Win

We have previously commented on the tragedy of the California fires. Prayers and calls for God’s many graces and mercies on the families and homeowners continue. Tragedies and natural disasters have been part of the human experience since the beginning of time. We can’t stop these events. We can mitigate and prepare to minimize the […]

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John Livingston

Tragedy or Opportunity

Our hearts and prayers go out to the citizens of LA County. They also go out daily to everyday people, who through actions or no actions on their part, find themselves and their loved ones separated temporarily from each other. Famine, destruction, petulance and death have forever been part of the human condition dating back […]

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John Livingston

The Immortal Man (Who pours your coffee)

I have been a big admirer of Peggy Noonan’s since the time she was writing speeches for Ronald Reagan. We share a common Christian-Catholic faith that serves as a common ground for trying to understand each other’s philosophies of life and politics—which many times differ from each other. In my opinion she has the heart […]

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John Livingston

The Warrior Spirit

In 1862 during the height of our Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed into The US Code several pieces of legislation that impacted the culture and the tribalism that is currently today very much a part of the American experience and our politics. The Homestead Act(s) and the Land Grant Morrill Act that created State Universities […]

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John Livingston

The Leviathan Deep State

Donald Trump completed the greatest political comeback in American history when he won both the popular vote and the Electoral College vote last November. I think the well-organized weaponization of our legal system against him, the centralized control of the media from the highest levels of government—let’s just say collusion, and the demonization and characterization […]

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