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•Thoughts about Inauguration Day

The 20th will see the inauguration of our 45th president of the United States. Some will rejoice, some will demur and for the really loathsome, some will object with malice.

The division in our country is truly bothersome. The remnant of serious debate over the election leaves comity between the political parties in tatters. We witness long-term congressional members acting like spoiled children. We witness learned members of society speaking out with such venomous acrimony that it becomes difficult to divide hateful rhetoric from serious consideration of issues and the need to debate them.

In the past couple of days I read an article by a local citizen who contends the Electoral College is outdated and should be abolished. His candidate of choice won the popular vote by a few million votes but lost the electoral vote and thus the election. He forgot to inform his readers that just California voters made up such a difference in vote count. He seems to forget that the Founders in their brilliance gave the country reason to celebrate a republic over a democracy. Their decision allows the minority to be protected from an overzealous majority.

The country continues to be made up of 50 states, each unique and important in its own right. And to imagine the entire country being controlled by just a couple of states seems ridiculous. I want my grandchildren to grow up in a country that believes in fairness and goodness. There will be those days when we might lose on an issue but contrary to losing there will be those days when we win. We need to accept both with dignity and assurance that in the end our Constitution will keep us vibrant and free as long as we don’t forget what got us this far.

The inauguration will suffer many declinations from individuals wrapped in their own brand of stupid reactions to the president-elect. As of this moment, over 50 have stated they will refuse to attend. Good. We wanted people there who care about the country and not just their feelings. These are the same people who have no care nor regard for their constituents. When the time comes and the “folk” need their representative to seek help from Washington, they lose. There will obviously be some of those representatives who will lose their next election. Good riddance.

It seems the political left is totally consumed by the leaks they contend were harmful to their candidate of choice but that certainly cannot be the issue. Leaks cannot be considered detrimental to the country as illustrated by President Obama’s recent commutation of Chelsea Manning’s 35-year sentence for “leaking” secrets about the U.S. military and government. They certainly don’t want to seem to be having it both ways, do they? I’m sure you can find their response on Wikileaks.

At 12 noon on Friday the 20th, the country will move forward from its present mooring in the progressive sewer of the Obamanation. Thankfully we now have a chance to reset the future for our kids and grandkids. Go, Trump, go! —Jerry Molen, Bigfork

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•Sanctity of life

On Jan. 22, 1983, the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, President Ronald Reagan spoke on abortion and the conscience of the nation. As of January 1983, 15 million babies had their lives snuffed out by legalized abortion. Today, January 2017, 44 years after the decision, 60 million babies’ lives have been snuffed out before they could take a breath. Since Ronald Reagan’s effort to bring awareness and create change, all of our congresses and presidents have done nothing to reverse this unconstitutional judicial decision.

Abortion concerns not just the unborn child; it concerns every one of us. The English poet, John Donne, wrote, “any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

President Reagan’s discussion can be found online; just type in Ronald Reagan — Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation. Please take the time to read it, and then make a decision to contact your lawmakers, state and federal, to voice your opinion. Here in Montana we will have bills in front of our Legislature regarding pro-life issues and abortion over the next three months. Let us together begin to reverse this grave unconstitutional injustice and bring back the right to life of all human beings. —John O’Neil, Kalispell

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•Speak out about Quiet Waters Initiative

Thousands of people are now aware of the Quiet Waters Initiative, thanks to three articles in the Daily Inter Lake, letters to the editor and the public hearing at the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Kalispell. The issue is that we risk losing a tremendous amount of our freedom to enjoy public land and water by regulations that dramatically restrict the type of boats we can use.

Here is how it happened. The Montana Fish & Wildlife Commission received a petition submitted by Backcountry Hunters and Anglers for the Quiet Waters Initiative. The commission initiated rulemaking with the petition, stating that the commission should consider getting proactive instead of reactive to the changes in recreation on Montana’s waterways to avoid conflicts and protect traditional and safe recreational uses. No research was offered to justify the regulations that would have extreme impact statewide on our freedom. The five-member commission appointed by Gov. Bullock represents five geographical districts. Their vote on the Quiet Water Initiative was unanimous. The members of the commission are Dan Vermillion, Livingston, 406-222-0624, Richard Stuker, Chinook, 406-357-3495, Matthew Tourtlotte, Billings, 406-534-1697, and Gary Wolfe, Missoula, 406-240-7323. One district is vacant. The governor, not the Legislature, is in control of the commission, and we will likely end up with the regulations regardless of the strong opposition from the general public.

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers is a far-left environmental organization, active in 23 states and one province in Canada. They use the Endangered Species Act and a fish-and-wildlife mask to achieve their goal of restricting access to land and water to prevent development of energy and resource extraction on public lands under the guise that it would hurt hunting or fishing opportunities. They also work with the Montana Conservation Voters primarily for attacking conservatives running for statewide offices. A recent example of an attack in the last election was in a letter to the editor by Hertha Lund, an attorney, who summed it up: “Instead of being against public access, as the Democrats are alleging in ads, and as proclaimed by Gov. Steve Bullock, Gianforte actually worked to provide the public with a better access point while protecting his property rights.” Gianforte provided land for a much better new access which was closer to the river than the one that was too close to his house.

Montana Conservation Voters twisted the truth in a TV ad to make it look like Gianforte was against access to public lands. They paid to run the TV ad every day for months to help get Bullock re-elected as governor of Montana. —Verdell Jackson, Kalispell

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•Nightmare scenario?

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.

Inauguration Day.

Let the national nightmare begin. —Mark Paulson, Kalispell