Last Word

“(Søren) Kierkegaard…has opened our eyes to the shallowness of much of our pseudo-Christian life, and to the outright deception in politics which Christianity has been made to serve.”
- William Hubben

“The people starve because their superiors eat too much in taxes. The more laws there are, the more thieves and bandits will multiply.”
– Lao Tzu

“I thought it went without saying that when the Soviet Union collapsed and the eastern states opened up, we would be plagued by a…

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“And now what is better, that our fatherland should be a Republican or a monarchical state?...Ask the rich for the solution, and they will love an aristocracy best, ask the people and they prefer a democracy; only the kings prefer a monarchy. How then is it possible that almost the whole globe is governed by monarchs?... But, truly, the real reason is…that men are very rarely worthy to govern themselves.”
– Voltaire, 1745

“…once fascists came to power in Germany and Italy, they…

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By Gary Olson
olsong@moravian.edu

"People spend so much time mocking Trump or waiting for him to be impeached. And the danger with this kind of obsession with a single person is that you don’t see the system that produced him."
— Arunhati Roy

National Security Adviser John Bolton is criss-crossing the Middle East to engage in damage control, or what The New York Times derisively termed “clearing up after his boss.” Washington’s war crimes’ partners are being told that Trump…

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I’ve listened to a few State of the State speeches by North Dakota Governors–probably somewhere between 15 and 20—and even had a hand in writing a few of them, so I think I’m qualified to offer a few comments on the one Doug Burgum gave the other week to the North Dakota Legislature.

As they go, his was a pretty good one. I thought his speechwriters (likely Mike Nowatzki and Jodi Uecker) did a pretty good job. It was hopeful and optimistic, as is Burgum’s nature, and he threw…

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by Gary Olson
olsong@moravian.edu

It’s mid-December and as wintery conditions and the Christmas holidays approach, I’m reminded of a story my mother told me about my Norwegian grandmother. In December 1882, as a sixteen-year-old, my Grandma Emma traveled a considerable distance on XC skis from her rural village to the port city of Bergen. Alone and with only a backpack, she had to leave her new Christmas gift skis at the dock before boarding ship for the perilous transatlantic…

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“(Søren) Kierkegaard…has opened our eyes to the shallowness of much of our pseudo-Christian life, and to the outright deception in politics which Christianity has been made to serve.” - William Hubben

“The people starve because their superiors eat too much in taxes. The more laws there are, the more thieves and bandits will multiply.” – Lao Tzu

“I thought it went without saying that when the Soviet Union collapsed and the eastern states opened up, we would be plagued by a…

Read more...

For all intents and purposes, the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party is bankrupt. North Dakota is now a one-party state. That’s sad. Because it wasn’t so long ago that we had an active two-party state government. Now the Democratic-NPL Party has ceased to exist. It is no longer competitive in elections. It no longer plays a role in governing North Dakota.

This is the party created by some visionaries and patriots when North Dakota’s Democrats merged with the Nonpartisan League in…

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With Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s loss in last week’s election, Republicans now hold every statewide elected office. Democrats have none. I don’t know if there’s ever been a time when one party held every state office. I doubt it. So what happened to Heidi?

Well, as the Beatles sang in their 1964 hit, “Money Can’t Buy Me Love,” Heidi’s millions of dollars collected in the wake of her vote against Trump Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh weren’t enough to sway North…

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Okay, against my better judgment, again, I'm going to weigh in on the 2018 election, just a week hence. Here goes.

I told Democratic-NPL Congressional candidate Mac Schneider last week that if Heidi Heitkamp wins re-election to the U.S. Senate on November 6, he can expect to head to Washington with her, as our next U.S. Congressman.

I think that might just happen. History and instinct tell me that Heitkamp will eke out a win over Kevin Cramer. And if she does, her coattails could carry…

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Dear Students,

I’ll get right to the point. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp supports your voice, your expression. Regardless if you support her. Regardless if you vote for her. Heidi has stood up for you and your right to express your views.

In 2015, a group of North Dakota students, educators like myself, professionals, concerned citizens, and supportive legislators championed the John Wall New Voices Act of North Dakota. The bill protected your ability to write and talk about the issues that were…

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