News & Updates

Each week I end this broadcast with the phrase “this government is your government, and your input does make a difference”.  Next week one of the easiest ways to provide input begins; it’s the start of early voting.  It’s your chance to choose the people who will make the laws that you have to live under.  As you can imagine, not voting in our house is not an option.  We see it as the bare minimum; it’s a small price to pay for the freedoms we enjoy.  Is our system perfect?  No, not by any means.

As Winston Churchill once said, “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried”.  It works marginally well when people participate and not at all when they don’t.

And as for reasons not to vote, I’ve heard them all.  And I might be somewhat sympathetic, except that I‘ve been to many countries where people either don’t have the right to vote, or where they have to walk forever and stand in endless lines just for the privilege of doing so.  In a word, it’s sobering.  In many of these counties, the people have fought so long for the right to vote that they can’t comprehend why anyone with that right would not exercise it.  I’ve tried to explain that we are busy, or that our vote really doesn’t make a difference, or that we don’t want to serve on jury duty and they just look at me like I’m from another planet.  None of these are good excuses.  They know it, and truth be told, we know it too.

So why is it that so few of people vote?  Why is it that we would let someone else chart the destiny of our nation when we get to have a say? 

As for the claim that our vote doesn’t make a difference, nothing could be further from the truth.  Several years ago, Representative Krayton Kerns of Laurel was elected by three votes.  His election changed the balance of power in the Montana Legislature, and resulted in the death of dozens of anti-family/anti-Christian bills.  That session, and ultimately the face of Montana, changed dramatically because of three votes from the small town of Laurel.  Your vote DOES make a difference, especially this election.

So what’s at stake?  The United States Senate for one.  If the majority in the Senate swings from Democrat to Republican, it will have an enormous impact on the makeup of the United States Supreme Court.  And this in turn will directly impact the definition of marriage, protections for the unborn, and religious liberty.  In Montana, control of the State Senate hangs in the balance, as does the balance on the State Supreme Court.  And with cases pending on life and marriage, it’s crucial that the right justices be elected.  One of the State Supreme Court races is a donnybrook, with Lawrence VanDyke challenging sitting Justice Mike Wheat.  According to the Kalispell Daily Inter Lake, the two candidates could not be more different.  An article posted on September 16^th said that Lawrence VanDyke, a Harvard Law graduate and former Solicitor General for Montana, is a newcomer to politics, having never run for office before.  Mike Wheat, on the other hand, is a former State Senator heavily involved in the Democrat Party.  With the two dead even in fundraising, this race may go down to the wire, and that’s where you come in.  Every vote counts—just ask Emily Eaton, the candidate who lost by three votes to Krayton Kerns in Laurel.  If you need help registering to vote, please call our office, we’ll point you in the right direction.

Remember, politics is a winner-take-all game.  Let’s make sure it’s your candidates who get elected on November 4^th.

What do you do when a 5-year-old boy refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance?  Is it an act of simple defiance, willful disobedience, or the exercising of free speech?  Are 5-year-olds afforded all the protections of the Constitution without reservation?  Can a 5-year-old even articulate the philosophical and moral ideals that would lead him to commit an act of civil disobedience?  These are the tough questions being asked by one North Dakota school district in response to a student who refuses to stand for the Pledge.

The boy, now six, was allowed to sit during the Pledge last year, but school officials say that it caused a disruption when other students started asking why they couldn’t sit as well.  This year, the boy was asked to wait outside while the rest of the class recited the Pledge.  That resulted in a letter being sent to the school by the American Humanist Association saying that coercing students to stand for the Pledge infringes on their Constitutional rights.  This isn’t the first time this issue’s been raised.  One of the most high profile cases was the Newdow case back in 2000.  When Michael Newdow, an atheist, filed suit on behalf of his daughter against inclusion of the words “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance in public school classrooms.  The 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the phrase did indeed violate the Establishment Clause—the decision created an uproar.

Here in Montana, the legislature immediately passed a resolution urging the US Supreme Court to overturn the decision, which it eventually did on procedural grounds.  Out of the 150 members of the House and Senate, 16 voted no, including current Montana Supreme Court Justice Mike Wheat, who was a Senator at the time.  In fact, Wheat was one of only five Senators out of 50 who voted no.  After losing on procedural grounds, Newdow refiled and lost for good in 2010.  This time the 9^th Circuit ruled that the school district’s policy of having teachers lead students in the recitation of the Pledge and having those who wish not to participate do so with impunity does not violate the Establishment Clause.  It was a huge victory and one that sent groups like the ACLU reeling!  In an amicus brief filed in 2004, the ACLU asked the Supreme Court to uphold the 9^th Circuit’s decision.  They pointed to a proclamation by President Eisenhower who said the phrase “under God” was added to the Pledge so that school children would daily proclaim the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty. The ACLU also pointed to a letter that President Bush wrote in 2002 that said “When we pledge allegiance to One Nation under God, our citizens participate in an important American tradition of humbly seeking the wisdom and blessing of Divine Providence.”  Their plea fell on deaf ears, “under God” remained in the Pledge, and key to the decision was the concept of impunity – the ability of school children to refuse to recite the Pledge without fear of punishment.

Which brings us back to the North Dakota case.  Is asking a 5-year-old who refuses to participate to wait outside a punishment or simply a means of maintaining order and discipline in the classroom?  Only time will tell, but it’s interesting that the issue isn’t limited to school children.  Members of the Montana Legislature routinely refuse to recite the Pledge.  Is it because of the phrase “one nation under God” or because they disagree with the principles upon which this nation was founded.  Sadly, I’ve been told it’s a little of both.

At a recent event, I had the opportunity once again to marvel at the ability of certain speakers to ride the rhetorical fence; speaking on subjects so serious that the audience sits spellbound while at the same time weaving in so much humor that the crowd finds itself laughing uncontrollably.  The event was the 2014 Montana Family Foundation “Friends of the Family” Fundraising Banquet in Bozeman, and the speaker was Todd Starnes, the social issues correspondent at FOX News. Each year the Montana Family Foundation hosts several fundraising events, this year – one in Bozeman, one in Billings, and one in Kalispell/Whitefish.  Past speakers have included Lt. Colonel Oliver North, Mike Huckabee, Tony Perkins, Star Parker, and Michael Raegan, to name a few.  It’s always fun and informative, and last week’s event in Bozeman took fun and informative to a whole new level.  Todd Starnes is a riot!  He describes himself as gun-toting, chicken-eating, son of a Baptist.  And his self-deprecating humor leaves the audience in stiches.  But there is a serious side as well.

Todd’s speech covered the moral decline of America, everything from crosses being removed from military chapels so we don’t offend Muslims, to a student being suspended from school for saying “Bless you” after someone sneezes, to Intervarsity Christian Fellowship being kicked off the California State University’s campuses for refusing to let non-Christians hold leadership positions—seriously, that just happened last week.  And the sad thing is that there is no lack of material to write about.  As America continues to spin off its axis, the bedrock values that have served our nation so well for so long, are increasingly up for grabs.  Nothing is sacred, literally – everything is up for reinterpretation including constitutional guarantees. One can see how spending an evening talking about these things could be rather depressing.  But Starnes does a great job of keeping the mood up.  He does it by injecting humor at key points along the way.

Stories like the time he moved from Tennessee to Brooklyn, New York and wanted to fit in.  The wardrobe designer at FOX News suggested that since he lived in a “hipster” neighborhood, he might switch to skinny jeans.  So, he went down to the clothing store and bought a pair.  One shoe-horn and two sticks of butter later, he had the jeans on.  Now, the thought of a 5’8”, 200-some pound man wearing a pair of skinny jeans had the audience rolling. And Starnes said that he quickly concluded it just wasn’t a good look for him.  Skinny jeans not-withstanding, Todd Starnes is one of the most likeable people I have met in years.  He’s a country boy transplanted to the big city who hasn’t lost his roots, or his sense of what’s truly important.  He’s kind, gentle, and gracious—unless, of course, you’re a policymaker whose actions are undermining the country that he loves.  In which case, Starnes can be biting, poignant, and snarky.  He has no patience with school administrators who suspend children for wearing t-shirts that say “God Bless America” because it’s deemed hate speech.  Or, for schools who thinks it’s okay to begin teaching sex education in kindergarten which is the story he was covering when I first met him.  He’s a man who loves this country and who wants nothing less than God’s continued blessings on our nation.  I think, personally. he would make a much better Montanan than a New Yorker—at least here he could wear Wranglers.

Last night my wife and I attended one of our favorite events of the year, the LaVie Pregnancy Care Center Banquet in Billings.  It’s an evening spent with some of our favorite people, supporting one of our favorite causes.  It’s a time to thank God for lives saved over the past year, a time to ask for healing for those impacted by abortion, and a time to reflect on the strides made in the pro-life movement over the course of the past 30 years.  For those who don’t know, the changes to the pregnancy resource centers over the past 15 years are amazing.  It’s like night and day compared to the older crisis pregnancy center model.

In the old days, women entering the pregnancy care centers were given a pregnancy test and counseling to discuss the possible options.  All of the patients were shown love and compassion, but the list of services was minimal.  Now fast forward to 2014—pregnancy care centers of today are modern.  Many offer ultrasound services, sexually transmitted infection testing, and counseling and classes for both moms and dads.  They often have doctors and nurses on staff to ensure the highest quality of care for those who walk through their doors.  It’s been an amazing transition, and one of the most exciting things at the event last evening was hearing about the change in attitudes of the millennial generation with regard to abortion.  This generation is now more pro-life than its parents, and trending even more so.  It’s got the folks at Planned Parenthood and NARAL scared because they know they’re on the wrong side of history.  Doctors who perform abortions are getting older – and they’re not being replaced.  Last night’s speaker called them bottom feeders, incapable of surviving in the real medical world.  People like Kermit Gosnell and Douglas Karpen, who routinely abused women and children for their own profits.  Now, as the stories of abuse and fraud become even more prevalent, states are cracking down.  New laws have forced abortion clinics to raise their standards and operate more like real medical facilities, and it’s having the desired effect.  More and more are closing their doors because they can’t compete, and this despite huge taxpayer subsides.  Even the big operators like Planned Parenthood are being caught up in scandal after scandal; everything from Medicaid fraud, to covering up rape and incest, to complicity with pimps and sex traffickers as they perform abortions on trafficked minors.  Pro-life investigative groups like Live Action are performing stings and revealing the ugly truth about America’s abortion providers.  And the truth is they’ll do whatever it takes to earn a buck, even if it means covering up sexual abuse.

Fortunately, women with unplanned pregnancies have a safe alternative.  Pregnancy care centers exist to provide hope and compassion to women in crisis.  They provide medical testing, medically accurate advice, options including adoption, and most of all – God’s love.

If you have a pregnancy resource center in your community, consider getting involved.  You can help in two ways, first through your donations.  Unlike abortion providers, pregnancy care centers receive no government aid.  The second way to help is through volunteering.  Volunteers are the life blood of these clinics, and what better way to use your talents than by saving lives.  As Psalm 127 says “children are a gift from the Lord”—let’s treat that gift and their moms with love and respect.

One of the greatest challenges for any policymaker is to buck a trend and rule on the facts, not the emotion of an issue.  It can be hard, it can be costly, but in the end it can also be rewarding, knowing that you had the backbone to do the right thing for the people you were elected to serve.  Today, we would like to honor the city councils in Billings and Dillon and also five citizens in Bozeman, along with a federal judge in Louisiana; all of whom stood firm in the face of a politically correct juggernaut.  For months it seemed the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community could lose no battles.  Courts were striking down marriage amendments right and left, cities were passing sexual orientation/gender identity non-discrimination ordinances (NDOs) as quickly as they could be introduced.  And anyone who dared to question the wisdom of the actions was castigated by the media.  Then suddenly, things began to change.  It was as though a little boy was brave enough to point out that the king had no clothes.  People began asking legitimate questions and policymakers began to listen.

In the case of the NDOs, why have they never been used?  Missoula, Helena, Butte, and Bozeman passed them to end so called discrimination that was supposedly running rampant.  Then the NDOs languished on the books.  No one was ever charged, not even once!  Did we solve a non-existent problem?  Billings thought so, and they voted no to passing an NDO.  It sent the left reeling!  How could the Billings City Council be so insensitive?  They weren’t.  They were simply looking at the facts and the law.  This week, Dillon followed suit, killing a proposed NDO on a 6-2 vote after their City Attorney said they didn’t have the legal authority to pass such a law.  As further evidence, they pointed to a lawsuit filed last week by five Bozeman residents who claim that city’s NDO exceeds the city’s authority and usurped areas of law reserved by the state to itself.  Rather than looking at the law, city attorneys in Bozeman and Billings seem to justify their recommendations based on the fact that none of the other cities that have passed NDOs had ever been sued.  Therefore, it must be okay.  Now, it’s time to let the courts decide.

And speaking of court, a federal judge in Louisiana just upheld the right of voters in that state to preserve marriage as a union between a man and a woman. He said that the state has a legitimate interest for addressing the meaning of marriage through the democratic process.  As Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said, “this ruling is a victory for children, each of whom need and desire a mom and a dad. It’s also a victory for the rule of law, religious liberty and free speech, all of which are undermined anywhere marriage is redefined.”

It’s as though the momentum has shifted.  Same-sex marriage municipal NDOs are not inevitable—  policymakers are beginning to ask the tough questions and the other side is having trouble coming up with the answers.  Their arguments are based on emotion, ours are based on fact.  They have anecdotes, we have statistics.  They have secular progressive relativism, we have the immutable truth of God’s Word.  And in the end, truth will win.  It always does.