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Bitterroot Bugle archives

my turn as an enemy of the state

I was recently asked why I am unwilling to cross the border into and out of Canada. Here is the real answer. I was a significantly above average Libertarian activist. I ran for governor of Idaho twice, gave the Ada County Sheriff the closest race he had in 20 years, though I had no peace officer experience, and spent several years as Libertarian Party of Idaho state chairman. Needless to say, I was working diligently against THE STATE. When TSA had just (unconstitutionally) taken over transportation security at all the airports, I went through the Boise airport on my way to a convention of state chairs in Houston. I was the only person who got “randomly” plucked out of a […]

dropping out

I sent this to family who are not operating on the same page as I am. I think you will understand as you read on. I had difficulty sleeping last night after our family ZOOM meeting. I love you guys too much to watch the show dispassionately. Masks, social distancing, and the next parts of the show are destroying your beautiful lives, families and communities for no good reason. Normal is not in our future. Worse is coming. I wish more people were psychologically, physically and spiritually prepared for the new world order. Family and community will be crucial. COVID, masks, lockdowns and “social distancing” are a deliberately implemented psychological operation to make that as difficult as possible. Knowledge and […]

Bullock making up laws after drinking too many Coronas

FIRST OFF: Governors do not get to just make crap up and call them “laws”. They are governors, not dictators, emperors, kings or anything like that. The legislative branch (do you notice the wording here???) makes the laws. The governor, the executive branch agrees to execute them. That is how constitutional republics work, mister BULL-UCK. NEXT UP: Many of us are intelligent enough to discount BS and ferret out credible information. If you are too dang STUPID to do that little mental exercise, you sure as heck should not go displaying your stupidity with whimsical orders from your hallucinogenic mountain top. I very definitely am not wearing a health-compromising, submission-signaling mask to make my breathing harder and unhealthy. You, mister […]

visualize liberty

Imagine what this country would look like if we had begun electing Libertarians 14 years ago. I gave Idaho my best shot, which may not have been all that much in the end, but Idahoans really did have a choice with serious beneficial potential that year. I tripped over this show recently, realizing that was a good debate and presentation of ideas that would have made very real differences. In 2006 I did some traveling around the state as the Libertarian candidate for Idaho governor, a relatively tiny bit of fund-raising, produced some campaign literature, and dressed myself for mass-market appeal. – He cleans up nicely – 😉 When the League of Women Voters announced the upcoming state-wide broadcast of […]

personal nostalgic moment

Reconnecting with an old friend brought my ‘5 minutes of fame’ back to mind. The old video had gone away – again. Having personally backed it up, I was able and inspired to watch it last night for the first time in many years. Ted The Younger got so much right, and now with a more dispassionate view realize I did even better than I remembered. If you removed party labels and were left with one of those two choices to be Idaho governor, I wonONE ATTABOYPretty dang good for my first television appearance. Of course that guy with the green tie in 2006 is quite different from this guy who is 12 years older. I would not want to […]

2006 Idaho governor candidate debate

Seeing Ron Paul championing my main 2006 campaign theme a decade later inspired me to look for this video. I couldn’t find it at the PBS website, so I uploaded a copy I had saved years ago. Debating in front of television cameras live to a state-wide audience was a terrifying to do, but probably the best performance of my political career. My biggest campaign theme was liberal tax credits for scholarships to private schools equal to a maximum of half what taxpayers spend on government schools. We would save money while liberating education. It was a good idea then. It still is. PBS 2006 Gubernatorial Debate televised Idaho-wide. from Ted Dunlap on Vimeo. Reconnecting with an old friend brought […]

I won

In the all important metric of campaign dollars spent for every vote earned, I seriously kicked butt! Dunlap $0.07 per vote Bullock $12.98 per vote Gianforte $33.49 per vote. Greg spent $7,271,672 to win 220,142 votes. Steve spent $3,014,517 to win 232,316 votes. I spent $1,085 to win 15,649 votes. . In another important area, I landed in the company of the largest group this election. As you can see in the chart to the left, far more adults in Montana did not vote for either the Republican or the Democrat candidate for governor. Of the 902,797 Montanans 18 and over, 450,339 did not vote for Greg or Steve. See how popular that option was. In round numbers, that […]

cannabis in Montana

Imagine trying to run a grocery store, auto shop or dentist office where legislation limited you to serving THREE customers. That is what the legislature and governor did to medical cannabis in Montana. Mind you, this is a substance used by humans for over a thousand years with zero deaths, quite unlike legal pharmaceuticals with very short histories and thousands of deaths every year. In Montana, possession of even a single joint for non-medical purposes can land a person in jail for six months, while possession of 60 grams or more (a little over two ounces) can result in a sentence of up to five years. These stiff marijuana penalties cause related negative consequences. In 2012, there were 1,502 arrests […]

campaign spending

I am on the November 8th ballot for Montana Governor because the incumbent is an anti-self-defense elitist, and because no other candidate will make ending cannabis prohibition and testing the safety of our soil, air and water into important priorities. Every vote in the [X] Ted Dunlap for governor box says those things are important enough that person bothered to cast a ballot for them. I do not expect to be elected governor. I could handle it well were that to happen. Management by Objectives, that is hiring good people and empowering them to do good work, is something I am very good at, along with setting appropriate priorities. But, what I want to have happen is that enough votes […]

geoengineering Montana

I wrote the following in response to an inquiry questioning whether my stance on having Montana state resources investigate the impact(s), if any, of geoengineering on the people, plants, animals and other resources in our state was additional spending, and thus counter to Libertarian financial conservative principles. I understand your question as well as the underlying question it implies. I will answer both. The state government of Montana lists 36 separate agency websites. As governor I would authorize no additional agencies, nor would I allow budget increases for any existing agencies. Furthermore, I would work to eliminate several of them by transferring their work back to regional or local government or the private sector where appropriate. It is probably more […]