Last Word

​Protecting the First Amendment and preserving the integrity of libraries

October 17th, 2024

By Terry Kalil

terrykalil@gmail.com

Public libraries are making headlines nationwide and have become an unexpected target of efforts to limit individual rights, freedom of speech and critical thinking. Nationwide, Minnesota has taken a strong leadership stance in protecting Andrew Carnegie’s vision of public libraries as “dedicated to the diffusion of knowledge.” As a 2013 National Public Radio article noted, during the Depression when no one had any money, people went there to…

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​A lawyer in the governor’s office? Maybe.

September 19th, 2024

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

“The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.”

You might recall that memorable line, uttered by Dick the Butcher, from perhaps the least memorable of Shakespeare’s plays, “Henry VI.” I’ve been thinking about it because I’ve been thinking about lawyers. And governors.

It’s been 40 years since North Dakota had a lawyer in the governor’s chair. That could be coming to an end. Because right now, our congressman, Kelly Armstrong,…

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​What is the value of water?

September 19th, 2024

By Peg Furshong and Clovis Curl, CURE

Peg@curemn.org

What do CO2 pipelines, hydrogen hubs, data centers and industrial ag have in common? Water.

With many new projects on the horizon for the upper Midwest, it is time we pause and reflect on a critical question: What is the value of water?

Here in the Midwest, we often pride ourselves on being “water rich” — think “Land of 10,000 Lakes” — but this overlooks the growing strain on our water from rapidly-expanding water intensive…

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​Keep it local supports local control

August 15th, 2024

By Chad Oban

ali.hoffman@ndunited.org

North Dakotans know that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. That is certainly the case with the ill-advised constitutional ballot measure to eliminate the ability of local political subdivisions to levee property taxes.

As the chair of Keep It Local, a coalition of over 70 organizations and member associations dedicated to protecting local control in our state, we are speaking out against this measure because we know it’s a…

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​Is Riverview Farms good for North Dakota?

July 18th, 2024

By Madeline Luke

mzlnd@yahoo.com

About 100 years ago the state of agriculture in North Dakota was pretty dire. Minnesota banks, grain mills, and railroads treated ND as a colony; they extracted our labor and natural resources for their own profit. After years of being on the bad end of a poor deal, farmers formed the Nonpartisan League (NPL) to pass laws which ensured that out of state corporations could never exploit North Dakotans again. Thanks to the most recent legislative session…

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​Much Ado About Nothing?

June 27th, 2024

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

My articles here are about politics. I’m writing this before the North Dakota primary election. You are reading it after the primary. Advantage: readers. So I won’t speculate much on that election, because you already know who won.

I think instead I’ll talk about Burgum. Doug Burgum. You’ve heard of him. He used to be North Dakota’s Governor. Not so much lately. Even he admits it. I went to the Memorial Day Service at the North Dakota…

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​Shotguns, dead dogs, liars and courtrooms

May 16th, 2024

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

I am an old man. I have been a politics junkie most of my life. I have been involved in many campaigns, but have not run for office myself. Each time someone has suggested I do that, I tell them the same thing: I will not put my name on a ballot until all my college roommates are dead. Luckily for me, a few of them are still with us. Brad, Ron, Jim, you know who you are. Ssshhh.

But in all my years of participating in other people’s campaigns, I…

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​Should America save small towns?

April 18th, 2024

Dismissing the value of small towns for the future of our nation is a mistake

By Bill Oberlander

arcandburn@gmail.com

According to U.S. Census projections, by the middle of this century, roughly 90% of the total population will live in an urban setting. This conclusion follows a trend that began at the start of the industrial revolution. Advances in machinery and technology moved the largest labor demands away from farms and rural outposts into urban centers. People have been moving to the…

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Notes from North Dakota’s political conventions

April 18th, 2024

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

I couldn’t make it to Fargo for the two state political conventions last weekend. It takes an old guy a lot longer to get over a cold than it used to. So I watched from afar and read about them, and wrote down my impressions, first on Saturday and then on Sunday. Here they are.

Saturday: Convention Notes . . . So Far

I’ll start this off by talking a bit about Tammy Miller, “Tall Tale Tammy” as Kelly Armstrong calls her. I think I get an assist…

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​How To Be An Anti-Partisan

March 21st, 2024

By William Cooper

wcooper11@gmail.com

When people look at political questions through a partisan lens, they apply their own personal gloss to the world. They reflexively interpret events in favor of their own tribe and against the other side. This distorts empirical reality, which is completely independent from such subjective mental processing.

The main problem with partisan thinking is that it’s inaccurate, wrong, mistaken—irrespective of what tribe it comes from. It leads to gross…

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