Jim Elliott
Montana Viewpoint: Our money or your life?
Jim Elliott writes, "Believe it or not, economists peg the economic value of a human life at $9.3 million dollars. They do that based on decades of research on the extra salary demanded by people who do life-threatening work and peg the value of a life on that amount."
Montana Viewpoint: ‘They also serve who only stand and wait’
There are those who believe that governors who have used executive orders to place limits on gatherings at public events are abridging the individual’s constitutional rights. But their approval ratings are high, and public approval is the reward for strong leadership in times of crisis.
Montana Viewpoint: Conspiracies neglect the human, economic toll of pandemic
Jim Elliott writes, "With the almost leisurely onset of the coronavirus pandemic there has been plenty of time for speculators in political intrigue, both domestic and foreign, to manufacture conspiracies that are driving Americans apart."
Montana Viewpoint: My Uncle Davey may be face down in his coffin
Jim Elliott writes, "I could write about coronavirus about which I know little, or politics about which I know too much, or the weather about which you know as much as I do, but they are all depressing topics, so I am going to tell you about my uncle, Davey Maitland."
Montana Viewpoint: To ask a simple question when mob rules
We all know about mob mentality, that people are far more willing to do something they know is wrong if they are among a crowd of people who are hell-bent on doing something they would never do on their own.
Montana Viewpoint: Revenge is mine, sayeth the politician
If the powerful can get away with illegal acts to further their ambitions, why can’t everybody else? There is not only the responsibility to the law, there is a responsibility to act in a manner that respects the way that everybody else has to act.
Montana Viewpoint: The twilight of American thinking
The most important action a politician can take is to offer respect to those who disagree with them. The most important action an American citizen can take is to think for themselves — while we still can.
Montana Viewpoint: Trump impeachment a sad state of affairs
I wish that it had not come to this; that the House hadn’t impeached Trump, that Trump had done nothing to warrant impeachment, and that, truth and justice aside, the matter had been let lay. The entire mess will have accomplished nothing but to harden opinions on each side.
Montana Viewpoint: The temptation of political donors and unintelligence
Members of Congress are very certain of their ability to keep their own political decisions independent of those corporate Political Action Committees and wealthy individuals, who give them large campaign contributions. It's a good trick.
Montana Viewpoint: Militia lawlessness verges on treason, domestic terror
We live in a country where we have freedom of speech and freedom of thought. But we do not live in a country where we have the freedom of deciding which laws to obey and the freedom to make up our own set of laws that we want others to abide by.