Stepping Back From Nuclear War

      

     My biggest lesson from being at the Pentagon in front of American Airlines Flight 77, just as it stopped: If that had been a nuclear weapon, all of the built environment of Washington DC, including Arlington National Cemetery, the statue of U.S. Marines raising our flag on Mount Sarabachi, the Kennedy Center, the Vietnam War and Korean War Memorials, the Lincoln Monument, the monuments to FDR and Thomas Jefferson and George Washington would have disappeared into glass.

     Seeing today how even Presidential candidates and their supporters make-up history or penalize teachers for teaching it, we should try to leave something of the wonderful tale of freedom we have tried to live with America. Today we are not only tasked with facing down the fascism of Trump and his followers, we are entering an extremely dangerous new arms race and risking direct military confrontation with Russia, while other nuclear conflicts loom around the world.

     The United States is expected to spend up to $2 trillion to “modernize” the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal including replacing the Minuteman with the Sentinel here in Montana. It’s time to step back from the business, consider how modern weapons are more likely to be used, and do what we can to back this shrinking world from the threshold of nuclear war. 

     Consequently, Montana voters, before they vote must understand that I support the efforts of a group of citizens and experts proposing “Back From the Brink,” a program to reduce nuclear risk. It calls on the United States to 1) declare it will never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict and invite other nations to make similar pledges; 2) take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert; 3) end the president’s sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack; 4) cancel plans to “modernize” its nuclear arsenal; and 5) enter negotiations with other nuclear powers toward the verifiable global elimination of nuclear weapons.

     Because no one will win a nuclear war we need all of our leaders working to end the nuclear threat.

We’ve Been Played For Fools

   

     Netanyahu and his government are confirming what Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt and other Americans observed and publicly denounced in 1948:  Menachem Begin and his Likud friends, of whom Netanyahu is heir and follower, are “fascists”, “racists”, “criminals” and “terrorists” leading Israel to its “final destruction”. Now we poorly informed but empathetic, and usually trusting but easily manipulated, know in our hearts that the slaughter in Palestine is wrong and the present Israeli form of governing, unless radically changed by us as we once did Germany and Japan will never be open to a two-state solution. Until we can change Israel from a fascist stronghold to a constitutional Democracy, we must stop arming and coddling a modern monstrosity created with our help. To the same degree it turns out that Hamas must be destroyed, so must the Israeli counterpart described in the letter below be eliminated. This will require controlling and occupying both Israel and Palestine with a strong  NATO-United Nations Force. 

Letter to the New York Times: New Palestine Party: Visit of Menachem Begin and Aims of Political Movement Discussed To the Editors of the New York Times: Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine. The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections, and to cement political ties with conservative Zionist elements in the United States. Several Americans of national repute have lent their names to welcome his visit. It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughout the world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin’s political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents. Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin’s behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement. The public avowals of Begin’s party are no guide whatever to its actual character. Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future. Attack on Arab Village A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base. On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants240 men, women, and childrenand kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin. The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party. Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority. Like other Fascist parties they have been used to break strikes, and have themselves pressed for the destruction of free trade unions. In their stead they have proposed corporate unions on the Italian Fascist model. During the last years of sporadic anti-British violence, the IZL and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and wide-spread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute. The people of the Freedom Party have had no part in the constructive achievements in Palestine. They have reclaimed no land, built no settlements, and only detracted from the Jewish defense activity. Their much-publicized immigration endeavors were minute, and devoted mainly to bringing in Fascist compatriots. Discrepancies Seen The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party, and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party. This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a “Leader State” is the goal. In the light of the foregoing considerations, it is imperative that the truth about Mr. Begin and his movement be made known in this country. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin’s efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin. The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism. ISIDORE ABRAMOWITZ, HANNAH ARENDT, ABRAHAM BRICK, RABBI JESSURUN CARDOZO, ALBERT EINSTEIN, HERMAN EISEN, M.D., HAYIM FINEMAN, M. GALLEN, M.D., H.H. HARRIS, ZELIG S. HARRIS, SIDNEY HOOK, FRED KARUSH, BRURIA KAUFMAN, IRMA L. LINDHEIM, NACHMAN MAISEL, SEYMOUR MELMAN, MYER D. MENDELSON, M.D., HARRY M. OSLINSKY, SAMUEL PITLICK, FRITZ ROHRLICH, LOUIS P. ROCKER, RUTH SAGIS, ITZHAK SANKOWSKY, I.J. SHOENBERG, SAMUEL SHUMAN, M. SINGER, IRMA WOLFE, STEFAN WOLFE. New York, Dec. 2, 1948

Butte Hill Will Always Be Dynamic

The Butte Hill will always be dynamic because it remains the richest hill on earth. In the year before the Superfund Law became a reality a number of community leaders and members of the scientific community met to think through how best to redevelop Butte, without such realities as the Superfund. I remember one of the internationally reknown scientists sent to our meetings by the Electric Power Research Institute, took me aside as we both looked out over Butte from the Montana School of Mines where we were meeting to formulate the technical questions we would be asking facilitated groups. His name was Walter Juda. He told me to remember two things about Butte: it’s a town with some of the finest earth scientists he ever met, “if the Japanese were in possession of The Butte Hill, it would be a beehive of industrial activity.”

 

Well we’ve had the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Butte during the more than 35 years since that unforgettable conversation. The EPA has done a great deal of good cleaning up, though I do sort of miss the ore dumps along Buffalo Street we used to clamber up in Corktown, I appreciate the storm water off The Hill being processed before heading down stream and the water from The Berkeley Pit being polished before it heads down stream, and I know more will be done to bring silver bow creek to be a lush place to reflect. However, it’s time for local leadership to begin accepting responsibility for the combinations of big decisions that will come our way as metals prices rise and fall, the credits for clean water and green hydrogen get really valuable and the quiet surface of the wind protected  pit is able to float a fleet of solar panels, concentrating their energy on towers designed to produce high temperature steam, by far the most energy efficient way to make green hydrogen.

 

At page 58 of the attached (Internet Archived) Berkeley Pit, Reindustrialization and Mineral Recovery Project is a concept paper for a locally run authority missioned to offset costs of some needed technologies with the benefits of some of the more lucrative. The idea, with the help of EPA as it moves to its redevelopment phase with Butte, is to end the high-grading of  Butte’s natural resources, while leaving future generations to clean up the mess. Unlike the initials ACM, which left us in the lurch, we need to begin working with the initials EPA to eventually stand on our own feet. It might take a little transfer of authority legislation, but I know we can do it.

The Lights of Billings

   

     A few evenings ago I was excited by the lights of Billings while passing through in my excellent fossil fueled and lubricated all wheels driven touring car. Back in the day when our family of six motored in an old black 1953 Cadillac from Miles City to visit all our relatives in Butte for my father’s annual two week vacations, we hardly noticed Billings. For us the high point was waking in the dark as we passed deadman’s curve on two-lane Harding Way, in time to break over the pass and see all the lights that mom called “a bowl of jewels.” Our ancestors worked under the ground there for generations, helping create a city in the mountains more important to America’s World War II effort than the Manhattan Project. People smoked more then and the no smoking signs were in 16 languages. This year for the first time I felt that familiar excitement among the light studded petroleum refinery towers of Billings. 

Butte’s scores of mine head frames and whistles lessened with the advance of open-pit mining technology and ended with happenings in far away Chile. The lighted towers of Billings are bound to eventually change as people make decisions about how to address climate change. For us it will next be a plug-in hybrid that uses the solar panels we’ve had on our house for 16 years and Montana’s gas stations to range our state. As technology evolves we will get a fuel cell electric vehicle. 

By then some of the talented managers, engineers, safety experts, materials makers and construction people who’ve built this fantastical world in Billings will lend experiences from a mature industry to making carbon-free green hydrogen. Idaho National Engineering laboratories has just demonstrated that green hydrogen electrolyzed at high temperature requires 23 percent less energy.That means a future of small nuclear power plants or those strange-looking solar power collection towers. Who knows where the water will originate? It would be nice if Billings got a piece of that generational response to climate change.

Meanwhile let the child in us enjoy the experience of lights dancing in the glow of the setting sun. Whoever would have imagined Billings having more going for it than Wonderland and pre-school girls who threatened to rub my eyes with snowballs?  I’m as delighted to be married to a Billings woman who grew up thinking airports were always up on rims.

John B Driscoll for US Congress

     

Chuck Johnson was sure happy when he finally got one of these Driscoll 1978 Senate Primary Campaign buttons for his political buttons collection. One of the nicest things anyone could have done for me was Maureen Powell of the Big Sky Mudflaps quietly designing, silkscreening and assembling 100 of these. The 1977 Smokejumping season was ended with no more concern about the Hatch Act. 

     Over the 46 years since then I believe I have demonstrated beyond any doubt that I am my own man.  Now my jump spot, with your help, is the US Congress.

Still Working For Change

I understand the frustration, especially among regular Montanans, with the non-responsiveness of our government. I’ve tried to address the problem by running for the U.S. Senate as “A Working Man for a Change,” first against U.S. Senator Hatfield and U.S. Congressman Baucus in the 1978 Democrat Primary, and many times later, ending in the depths of the covid epidemic when, instead of parachute buttons, I spread Ace of Hearts playing cards around Montana at places memorializing Montanans Compassion and Courage. During that campaign I spoke to two people, one on his front porch in Troy and another next to his barn in Dagmar. I recrossed our state to recover all of the cards, so as not to litter. Though running as a Republican I spent so little of my own funds, I didn’t meet the $5,000 legal threshold for filing a Federal Elections Campaign finance report. My thinking at the time was that regular Republicans, were no different than the decent people from Miles City, to Butte, to Hamilton, to Helena with whom I’d been a student, a worker, a Catholic, a soldier and a state office holder. I ran as an “Abraham Lincoln Republican,” hoping to attract those same decent thoughtful people I’ve known in Montana my whole life. I’ve no regrets though I was again unsuccessful.

In 1984, I was ordered, as the Major responsible for Operational Security of the Montana National Guard, to drive a staff car to Kalispell and meet FBI agents who were working to dismantle the ‘silent brotherhood,” which had held up an armored car in California using at least one sidearm purchased in Missoula, robbed a couple of banks in Seattle using the proceeds to buy a safe house on Big Mountain, assassinated a Jewish talkshow host in Denver using the names of dead babies off tombstones in Missoula, killed one of their own members with a hammer for talking too much in a Spokane brothel, and ambushing FBI agents on an island in Puget Sound. I read their signed Declaration of War against our U.S. Government, which they called the Zionist Occupational Government. I then toured Montana Guard units explaining the difference between the right wing and the left wing, and how both are virtually in-distinguishable as far as threatening the middle road of Democracy. All that work morphed over the years into a close understanding of the armed confrontations at Waco and Ruby Ridge and Jordan, and the horrific bombing in Oklahoma City. After 12 years monitoring this metastasis, at the U.S. Army War College, I wrote “A Chaordic Threat, Right Wing Terrorism in the United States,” published by the Defense Department and still on the internet.

In that 1996 Strategic Research Paper I concluded that the threat here in Montana and the Northwest, was serious, survivable and intent upon overthrowing the U.S. Government. By then the movement had progressed loosely to the “concept paragraph” of a field order. When Trump said, “Stand Back and Stand By,” he added the mission paragraph. You know that to be true. Now, after all these years of being quiet, I’m advising you, “Get back on the right side of the line, or there will be hell to pay."

I feel differently now because Trump controls the Republican Party and I must say there can be no decent excuse for supporting him. Trump’s a Fascist, identical to the people our parents fought to the death in World War II, when Hitler sent his finest SS divisions in a surprise winter attack against an all-American defensive line he thought would break and run because we are mongrels, I’m proud to say our citizen soldiers didn’t break and run in The Battle of The Bulge and Hitler killed himself in a bunker. If these truths upset you, I’m not sorry. Make an informed decision about reality. I am no longer a Republican nor should you be.

Sworn To Protect And Defend

The Purple Heart conveying this letter reminds that freedom is not free. General George Washington awarded it to defenders of our revolution for what he called “virtuous ambition.” Today the enemies of our Constitutional Democracy are rapidly acquiring counter-revolutionary power, by using huge sums of money to spread lies and disinformation with the purpose of stoking fear, hardening our people’s hearts and closing American minds to serve a tyrant’s purposes. The “deep state,” sometimes called the “administrative state,” being vilified by leaders of this ugly fascist movement started as Russia’s name for our constitution.

In another time I would have proudly fought as one of America’s soldiers, called mongrels by Hitler, to defeat his vaunted pure-blooded SS Divisions in the bloody “Battle of the Bulge.” Our generation’s fight is more serious. As a Montanan
sworn to protect and defend our United States Constitution, I am fighting today by filing to represent Montana’s United States House District 2 as a Democrat. I have digitally submitted signed candidate information and the $1740 filing fee.

I’m asking for help from Montanans willing to serve as lamps against forces of darkness on today’s two fronts, climate and tyranny. While remaining an arsenal of Democracy we need to also devise ways to become a shelter for Democracy.

We I’ll refuse all contributions, and spend less than $5,000 in this effort, so there’ll be no need to open a campaign account with the Federal Election Commission. I will be grateful for votes from those who agree with what I am saying and doing.

Power And Money and Quislings

   

 Today when I see people equating political positions like U.S Senate seats, and the money that flows to them and through them, with power, I see a lack of understanding about money and power in politics. I was the same way the second to last time Republican Strategist and Manager Pat Collins and I really communicated was on the escalator of the Gand Hyatt Hotel in Washington DC. We were looking out over a sea of white banquet tables, the result of  his handiwork. He laughingly called his venue, “The scene of the crime.” After being a devoted follower of Ronald Reagan, even serving as the staff person advising Reagan’s Kitchen Cabinet during their review of Presidential appointments, he had adjusted his politics a notch, downward in his view, to organize a major political fund-raising dinner for Republican Presidential candidate George H.W.Bush. 

      That was in the Spring of 1992, when I had just decided to not run for my fourth 4-year term as a Democrat on the Montana Public Service Commission. On the escalator going up to the street level I revealed to my friend of more than 30 years, “I’m getting out of politics.” He didn’t laugh with an, “Oh, Sure,” but took me seriously and asked, “Why?”

     “I’ve never understood the money.”

     Then as a hardened operative of many Republican political campaigns he amazed me by saying, “You know, neither have I.”

     In the back of a DC Cab a few minutes later, we had our last conversation. As he dropped me off at The Harrington Hotel, our exchange was hard and true. 

    “Pat, I think you’ve had a stroke.”

    Holding his right arm he asked, “You really think so?”

    “You’d better see a doctor.” 

     I read his obituary the next Spring.

     During my tours of duty at the Pentagon, I’d look up the name of Sergeant David Vallance, our Hamilton High School fullback, on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. I’d cross the river and visit Pat’s grave, in Arlington National Cemetery not because he served in Vietnam but because he served for a while as Secretary of Energy. I’d sometimes stop at the plain marble headstone for Michael Joseph Mansfield, PFC USMC, Montana. Each in their respective year died on the same day. Even that seemed more important than money.

    Mike Mansfield’s last general election campaign cost $100,000. John Tester’s last general election campaign cost mind-boggling millions of dollars. I think I saw a number on the order of $30 million in Federal Election Commission discussions of Steve Daines’ last campaign. 

     Even naive altar boys like myself can not believe that kind of money, lately designated as someone’s free speech, flows to an individual’s campaign, or a Senatorial Campaign Committee, absent something of the Public’s Trust being eventually exchanged. Maintaining public appearances to the contrary are lies,  and lies are the most fundamental form of betrayal. Another word for betrayer is quisling. Quisling was a Norwegian military politician, military officer and Nazi collaborator who saw himself as head of Norway during his country’s occupation by German troops during World War II. He empowered Hitler, but was without his own power, without his peoples’ trust.

    Now in Montana there will be no primary contest to select a Republican challenger to John Tester because Matt Rosendale says he “lacks resources.” He really means that his hand-picked opponent, Tim Sheehy, has behind him both the bottomless coffers of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, led by Trump quisling Steve Daines, and the high plains grifter himself, Donald Trump. Unless Montana voters take back their power, controlled by money, the next election of a U.S. Senator from Montana will be a mirage of a free election, soon vanished.

     Today I feel a little wiser than I did that night on the escalator in the Grand Hyatt. As I see intelligent men and women of the Republicans Party crowd inexplicably together behind an American Fascist, I know the secret sauce that binds them is the money, or rather the fear of not having enough money, or rather the fear of not having the power that generally seems to come with all the money. The one way to break that spell is to choose candidates, Republican or Democrat, who treat campaign money as irrelevant, rather than with reverence. Each voter needs to retain his or her personal power to discern candidates who in turn remain able to serve the common good.

     My wife and I have given our $100 to John Tester’s campaign because we feel he’s done a good job and we want to do our small part to help his effort. This young fellow, Tim Sheehy, seems interesting enough and I’m glad he and his family have settled in Montana. Our generation has taken good care of this place and hope theirs will, as well. Right now, though, I think Mr. Sheehy has a lot to learn as I once did. I remember some people saying about me when I first ran for the U.S. Senate as a 31-year old House Speaker. They were right.

Custer’s Pistol

Mr. Marbut,

     During my life I’ve been responsible for hundreds, if not thousands of weapons, and the safety of persons handling them in live fire conditions. I have the greatest possible respect for them and what they are capable of doing. I have no respect for persons who do not maintain them or handle them properly.

     I maintain my own proficiency with a .357 magnum revolver safely stored by a brother. The revolver I use was kept loaded constantly since I was 5 years old, but safely stored in a place no one touched in a home used eventually to house 7 children.

     As you would expect I am most concerned with the safety of gun owners and their families, and have no use for firearms kept purely as luxury items. I choose to keep the people I love in a clean and healthful environment, and therefore have no weapons around my house.

    I no longer hunt, but when I did I practiced fair chase. I’m not interested in answering your Montana Shooting Sports Association questionnaire, but have no doubt you’ll find many who will. However I can offer you the story of Custer’s Pistol, which you’ll find included in my last book, Gonzo Road Show Diary.

Respectfully,
John B Driscoll

Ordinary Fidelity

     

     Watch some of the interviews I did of fellow smokejumpers in the Facebook Group, Smokejumper Stories, https://www.facebook.com/share/p/ruaJBtGywe9VK7ta/?mibextid=K35XfP  

     Though not generally appreciated, Montana is where airborne warfare got started….fighting fires. The Airborne Battle Memorial at Fort Benning, Georgia, where I later attended Infantry Officers Basic Training, makes no mention of the fact that the founder of U.S. Airborne forces and his staff first went out to Missoula in June and July 1942 and watched the early smokejumpers make 10 practice jumps then deploy to wildland forest fires in rough terrain from low-flying aircraft. U.S.Army Major William Carey Lee then brought a bunch of their gear (parachutes and a static line) back to Georgia where he formed the 101st Airborne Division (“Screaming Eagles”) and became the father of U.S. Airborne Doctrine.

       It bothered me at first that the U.S. Forest Service Parachute Project is not listed with the small number of units, like the First Special Service Force that trained in Montana at Helena to become the predecessor of Joint Special Operations. But, then, I know it’s because smokejumpers are a necessary peaceful pursuit and I like it that way. I have huge respect for our military forces and my experiences in them, but I’m not a “militarist.” Like most Veterans I did my best at what was expected of me. 

     Trump would never make it in the Smokejumpers, the Infantry, the Airborne Infantry, or Special Operations Forces. Who would place their life in the hands of a damn fool throwing lighted matches into dry timber? We are a people of ordinary fidelity but now, if ever, is the time for all of us to fight for our country.

Time for Another Big Decision by Montanans!

      Nearly 50 years ago I was asked to collaborate with State Senators Tom Towe and Chet Blaylock in writing a voter information pamphlet advocating a Montana Constitutional Amendment to create Montana’s Coal Tax Trust Fund. Constitutional language, our arguments and Montana’s vote are below.

     What we Montanans foresaw has happened, but for reasons we could not then have comprehended. Fossil fuels are one of the main causes of humanity-induced catastrophic climate change. The end of coal mining in Montana will eventually happen. As the day we foresaw approaches what are we to do? Should we just sit on our multibillion dollar nest egg content to spend the interest?

     My thinking is that we should use a portion of our nest egg to create a replacement revenue source for the Trust Fund. That subsequent revenue source for future generations should be a tax or a disposal fee on high level nuclear waste deposited in a properly sited high level nuclear waste repository like the first one in the world expected to open this next summer in Finland. Montana is 17,000 square miles larger than Finland and we have earth scientists, underground geology and mining expertise, and water-related knowledge without peer. Once 3/4 of both houses of our legislature agree on the way to do this then they certainly will have the deep pockets to get it done.

     According to the Advanced Nuclear Technology Program at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), “At the end of 2020, 70% of the largest U.S. utilities had set targets for net-zero emissions or deep decarbonization.” According to program head, Craig Stover, “We hear from utilities that say they have committed to an ambitious carbon goal and run their models and realize they can’t meet their targets without a nuclear plant.” Contemplating a nuclear plant and enjoyment of the climate change responsive electricity based technology that plant enables, without addressing long term nuclear waste disposition is not responsible, one generation to the next.

    I hope our legislature and its legal staff will be able to devise a way to assure public trust by blending the process followed by Finland, our state’s experience permitting exploration and underground mining, and expanding the major facility siting act to include high-level nuclear wast disposal.

“AN ACT TO SUBMIT TO THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS OF MONTANA AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION TO REQUIRE THE LEGISLATURE TO DEDICATE A PORTION OF THE COAL SEVERANCE TAX TO A PERMANENT TRUST FUND.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA: Section 1. Article IX of the Montana constitution is amended by adding a new section 5 that reads as follows: Section 5. Severance tax on coal -- trust fund. The legislature shall dedicate not less than one-fourth (1/4) of the coal severance tax to a trust fund, the interest and incomes from which may be appropriated. The principal of the trust shall forever remain inviolate unless appropriated by vote of three-fourths (3/4) of the members of each house of the legislature. After December 31, 1979, at least fifty percent (50%) of the severance tax shall be dedicated to the trust fund.

For a permanent trust fund from coal taxes

Against a permanent trust fund from coal taxes

Arguments for approval and against approval.

Arguments advocating for approval and those arguing against for the proposed amendment were provided to the citizens of the state to help inform voter decision. Rebuttals to each of the arguments were also provided in the 1976 Voter Information Pamphlet.

Thomas Towe, Chet Blaylock, and John Driscoll provided an argument advocating for the approval of the amendment. In their argument, they estimated that Montana had coal reserves of 108 billion tons. This was recognized as a valuable, irreplaceable resource. They argued that Montana had previously improperly managed revenue from the State's rich Copper mining legacy and had relatively little to show for it. In addition, they argued that other areas of the country had mismanaged revenue from coal resources and also had relatively little to show for it. As a result, they proposed the development of a permanent trust fund to manage revenue from Montana's coal reserves. This was intended to create an avenue to benefit future Montana generations with revenue derived from coal mining that would be in place should the coal no longer exist or have value. They described the amendment as a forward looking proposal intended to allow future generations in Montana to share in the riches derived coal mining in the 1970s.Id. at 2.

Dan Yardley, Harold C. Nelson, and Francis Bardanouve provided an argument advocating for the rejection of the measure. In their argument they estimated that the value of the trust would exceed hundreds of millions of dollars in a relatively short period of time. They also opined that investment of funds should fall within the private sector. They portrayed concern, that due to the large value of the trust, there was potential for corruption or mismanagement of the revenues by the legislature. In addition, they suggested that the proposed trust fund would be redundant since the state had previously approved a measure in 1974 which created a resource indemnity trust funded by the gross tax of all minerals which included coal.Id. at 4.

Dan Yardley and Francis Bardanouve also provided an argument rebutting Towe, Blaylock, and Driscoll's argument advocating for approval of the measure. In their rebuttal, Yardley and Bardanouve indicated that revenue from the coal severance tax was currently being utilized to develop local areas which had sustained increased tax costs due to coal development. The revenue had been allotted to help communities that had sustained increases in expenditures resulting directly or indirectly from coal use or mining. They cited highway improvement, creating community parks, improving the public school system, and county level planning as tangible benefits being realized at the time this measure was brought forth. They argue that the wide range of uses for severance tax revenue used at the time adequately provided benefit to the citizens of the State without creating a multimillion dollar trust fund. Yardley and Bardanouve considered the amendment unnecessary at the time.Id. at 4-5.

Chet Blaylock, Thomas Towe, and John Driscoll provided an argument rebutting the argument advocating rejection of the measure. In there argument, they conceded that the constitutional amendment would establish a second trust in the State of Montana related to coal and mineral extraction, but indicated that it was needed to benefit future generations. They countered the argument that the trust fund would foster political corruption by stating that a three-quarter vote by each house of the legislature would be required to access the principal of the trust which they recognized was "extremely difficult to achieve without proving a compelling necessity."Id. at 5.

Conclusion

The citizens of the state approved the measure by a vote of 178,773 to 103,001 on the 2nd of November 1976.

Three Times Sworn

     Governor Greg Gianforte recently announced that he and 24 other Republican governors were “standing in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbot, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border.” Our Governor said he was leading them to “demand answers” from President Biden, and forming an “American Governors Border Strike Force” to communicate and coordinate against illegal drugs. A week later he stood behind Abbott on the border in Texas and said he’s been sending Montana troops to support the Texas Governor. As this came through my television Montana’s Republican Congressional Delegation were in Washington DC humiliating themselves by bowing to Trump’s back-channel demand they not to give our President a “win” on the southern border by passing the first bipartisan immigration legislation in years. Where was our country in all this?

On the Texas border Gianforte and 11 Governors were backed by 12 National Guard soldiers standing in formation. Were I one of the guardsmen sworn to follow the orders of the officers appointed over me, I would be wondering, “What the Hell is going on here?” National Guard personnel are sworn three times to protect and defend: once protecting and defending the Montana Constitution, once as a Reserve Soldier of the United States Armed Forces protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States, and once as a soldier of the National Guard of the United States protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States. Emergency Management Assistance Compacts have used this flexibility to evolve as a way the states and federal government assist each other during times of fire, flood, hurricanes and the current testing of federal resources at the southern border. EMAC missions happen when the President declares an emergency. I suspect our Governor bent the truth in Texas when he said he’s been sending Montana troops to support Operation Lone Star.

National Guard troops from all states for many years have been sent to the southern border, including for the counter drug program. Since 2006 the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have received support from Guard being paid as Title 32 National Guard or Title 10 Active Component personnel.

Operation Lone Star, Abbot’s huge Texas National Guard mission, is state-funded based on a state-only declaration. The first money to pay soldiers came from left-over COVID Relief Funding in 2021. Now there are internal State of Texas funding concerns. Paying, feeding, billeting and moving troops gets expensive. Soldiers’s pay is an important personal right, never satisfied with rubber checks. Gianforte should be cautious unless Texas can show Montana the money.

An additional border mission will make it harder for Montana commanders to maintain readiness for their federal mission as a combat reserve of the Army and Air Force. Recruiting and retention for the politicized Texas mission, would become the challenge it has for Texas, where State Active Duty numbers once ranging as high as 10,000 are now half. Military readiness is hard to maintain and not to be taken lightly.

I, for one, sincerely thank all those guardsmen and their families for their service and wish that all those around us these days, hell bent on acquiring power they can’t handle, will be open-minded enough to agree to a new federal legal framework that will lend more order to current efforts at managing our border to help protect immigrants from predators and allow timely processing of their applications to become our new fellow citizens.

Speak With Your Vote!

     We are now too close to ending of our way of living and we have no choice but to stand together against the challenge, however it next presents its nearly unstoppable momentum. Like so many others dedicated to public service who came before us, we all need for once to be public servants sworn to protect and defend our Constitution. It may be possible to regain a functioning Congress. I’ve concluded that it’s worth trying and possible if we send Democrats there.

   

     Like you I care about our families, our communities, and our nation. Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has become the Republican Party and the Republican Party has become MAGA. One and the same are a fascist counter-revolution intending to reverse all the change, including the American Revolution, that has happened since the European Enlightenment. They break with reason, humanism and Christian ethics, which are the basis for our Democracy. They not only ignore the scientific pursuit of truth as a noble goal, they deny the inviolability of the human being while saying the opposite. Telling lies, big and many, is their most useful tool toward ending what they consider to be our naive and decadent Democracy. MAGA fascism sees and pursues life as unremitting struggle among tribes of peoples for bare survival. These un-Americans deride, demean and smother the sunny reasonableness and common sense that comes with our human experience of personal freedom. Their Counter Revolution has advanced easily because of their access to a vast mind-boggling flood of money as free speech from dark forces in unseen places. So far our constitutionally based legal system seems unable to impede it.

    So, as you disassociate in your heart and mind from MAGA fascism which has become the Republican Party for the time being, defend our Democracy with your individual right to free speech. Defend our Democracy with your vote for a Democrat. 

Respectfully,

John B Driscoll, Helena, Montana

Why Should We Care?

 “Why Should I Care? (https://www.helenacivictv.org/on-demand/5388) This is Billy who first learned to play “Black Angels” in the Fourth Grade at McKinley School in Butte. He has Schizophrenia and loves Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. Caring and interacting, even when we can’t do much, reminds us that we are all human beings working our way through this life in the world together. This short film by Jean Warden and Valerie Hillerman of Helena explores the real challenges we collectively face and the services already available to help face them. I’ve concluded that regardless of how or where we find a way to house someone and/or their family, we have to organize services, discussed in the film, to be immediately available to meet their needs.

John B Driscoll for US Congress

     Chuck Johnson was sure happy when he finally got one of these Driscoll 1978 Senate Primary Campaign buttons for his political buttons collection. One of the nicest things anyone could have done for me was Maureen Powell of the Big Sky Mudflaps quietly designing, silkscreening and assembling 100 of these. The 1977 Smokejumping season was ended with no more concern about the Hatch Act. 

     Over the 46 years since then I believe I have demonstrated beyond any doubt that I am my own man.  Now my jump spot, with your help, is the US Congress.