Minnesota has become a case study in how a virtuous society can lose its bearings without quite noticing when the slide began. The state’s recent convulsions—a sprawling fraud scandal and mounting street-level confrontation around immigration enforcement—prompted Catholic Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester to issue a stark warning: the situation is “untenable,” and unless all sides […]
When Governor Orval Faubus used the Arkansas National Guard in 1957 to block nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School, he was not “standing up to Washington”; he was openly defying federal law and a binding Supreme Court ruling. President Eisenhower responded by federalizing the Guard and sending in the 101st Airborne […]
Matthew 7:3–5 asks why we notice the speck in a brother’s eye while ignoring the log in our own. It is a question about hypocrisy, but also about responsibility. Before we condemn others for tragic outcomes, we must ask how our own failures—political, institutional, cultural—helped lay the tracks that led to those moments of crisis. […]
As we turn on our TVs and witness the protesters in Minneapolis exercising their First Amendment right to free speech and protest, it is important to consider who is supporting these demonstrations. Having visited Minnesota and Minneapolis over the years for both business and pleasure, I can say that the current events are far removed […]
And what happens to Idaho if the office collapses? This started with one question in Horseshoe Bend Last Tuesday at the “Meet the Representatives” town hall in Horseshoe Bend, I asked a question based on direct work with Idaho sheriffs. I told the room I have interviewed sheriffs across the state, and they are all […]
Stand Up For Idaho is a non-profit organization that holds weekly town hall meetings to inform and educate the public. It also has both a YouTube and Rumble site where video recorded meetings can be viewed. At a recent town hall meeting, hosted by Jolyn Thomas from KID Newsradio, a discussion was held on the […]
The year 2026, this year, marks the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. While the Founding generation sought for and prayed for prosperity and a land of liberty for themselves and their posterity and even understood the scope of what a nation blessed with liberty could accomplish, at least to some degree, they could […]
Is there a functional difference between socialism and fraud? “To protect these rights, governments are created among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” The Declaration of Independence enumerates the proper roll of government, to protect the rights of the governed. As citizens we pay taxes to establish systems designed to […]
BOISE, ID — On Friday, attorneys in the Office of Attorney General will argue in defense of Idaho’s School Choice Tax Credit before the Idaho Supreme Court. The hearing follows a legal challenge brought by the Idaho Education Association and others seeking to block Idaho families’ ability to use these tax credits to choose the best […]
The Statue of Liberty features the inscription: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door! These words by Emma Lazarus have inspired Americans and the oppressed around the world. Many came, […]
We often say America is a “nation of immigrants,” but we rarely ask what made our earlier waves of immigration work—and why our current system is failing so many newcomers and citizens alike. The answer, I believe, lies in an old-fashioned word that has nearly vanished from our policy debates: sponsorship. Ellis Island in 1904 […]
When serving as a junior officer aboard the USS Virginia (CGN-38), it was possible to watch two very different leadership styles under two commanding officers with equally impressive résumés. One captain went on to become a vice admiral: the other retired into mediocrity. The contrast between them offers a useful lens for looking at how Idaho’s government […]