Wednesday, January 22, 2025

ARTICLES BY SEN. JIM ELLIOTT

Only the little people pay taxes

Now that we’ve all filed our income taxes for the year, and thereby paid our share of keeping America great, it seems like as good time as any to reflect on the fairness of the Montana income tax system.
THE WESTERN NEWS | UPDATED 16 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO

States take over federal immigration law enforcement duties

“He had had a nice, good, idle time all the while - plenty of company - and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn't run out of whitewash, he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.”
THE WESTERN NEWS | UPDATED 16 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO

Fearmongering and our Constitutional protections

Protecting our freedoms is not a partisan political issue but that's never stopped politicians from making it one. A recent confrontation between the President and the House of Representatives has caused an anti-terrorism bill that contained some good—and some not so good—parts to fail. As a result House Democrats are …
THE WESTERN NEWS | UPDATED 16 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO

Primary Politics

Primary elections are somewhat unique to American politics and are a way that members of a political party decide who will carry their banner in the "real" or general election. There's nothing very strange about that, but what I have always found interesting is that the state governments pay for …
THE WESTERN NEWS | UPDATED 17 YEARS AGO

A visit to the Bonneville Power Administration

Last week I accompanied a group of legislators from Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon on a tour of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) headquarters in Portland Oregon; and to one of their transmission distribution systems in Vancouver, Washington. The BPA is the largest generator and distributor of electricity in the …
THE WESTERN NEWS | UPDATED 17 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO

Health insurance - the legitimate object of government

"The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but can not do at all, or can not so well do, for themselves in their separate and individual capacities."
THE WESTERN NEWS | UPDATED 17 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO

"God's Time" and Railroad Time

In a couple of weeks we will once again turn our clocks back an hour as we switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time. And just for the heck of it, what is standard time, anyway? Well, it was originally called Standard Railway Time, and therein lies a tale.
THE WESTERN NEWS | UPDATED 17 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO

Capitalism without risk makes for taxpayers footing the bill

I ran across an article in the newspaper the other day about the home mortgage crisis that raised my eyebrows. The article was written by a fellow named James Grant, who is the editor of "Grant's Interest Rate Observer" and a columnist for Forbes online magazine.
THE WESTERN NEWS | UPDATED 17 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO

National ID

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
BIGFORK EAGLE | UPDATED 19 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

National ID

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
HUNGRY HORSE NEWS | UPDATED 19 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

National ID

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
WHITEFISH PILOT | UPDATED 19 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

Something to ponder, something to protect

For centuries the privacy of the individual has been paramount in the protection of liberty; and nothing can bring the American political left and right together quicker than government assaults on that privacy. For this I am thankful, because I don't have to decide whether I'm a liberal or conservative …
HUNGRY HORSE NEWS | UPDATED 20 YEARS AGO

Something to ponder, something to protect

For centuries the privacy of the individual has been paramount in the protection of liberty; and nothing can bring the American political left and right together quicker than government assaults on that privacy. For this I am thankful, because I don't have to decide whether I'm a liberal or conservative …
BIGFORK EAGLE | UPDATED 20 YEARS AGO

Something to ponder, something to protect

For centuries the privacy of the individual has been paramount in the protection of liberty; and nothing can bring the American political left and right together quicker than government assaults on that privacy. For this I am thankful, because I don't have to decide whether I'm a liberal or conservative …
WHITEFISH PILOT | UPDATED 20 YEARS AGO

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