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Articles by Fritz Pettyjohn
What next for Ron DeSantis?
I’ve been working for Article V, off and on, since 1983. That’s when the Alaska Legislature passed a Resolution calling for a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA), using Article V. I was serving in the Alaska Senate. At the time, the national debt was $1.8 trillion. From 2013 to 2018, the campaign for fiscal reform, using Article V, was my sole preoccupation. My sons Darren and Brendan and I co-founded the Reagan Project to promote it. I gave it everything I had.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Our new congressman was elected on merit to serve in an exciting time
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN It’s better to be lucky than good. It’s best to be both. Our new congressman got elected on merit, and he’s lucky to be a member of the 119th Congress. The next two years will be the most exciting time of his life, and the most productive. I admit I’m a little jealous. He’ll be treated well by the Republican leadership. He took a seat away from the Democrats, and they want to see him to keep it.
Fritz Pettyjohn: DeSantis for Defense?
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Ron DeSantis would, I’m sure, be an outstanding secretary of Defense. He’d be a better president. I don’t think he can be both. He needs independence if he wants to make a run in 2028. Working for Donald Trump wouldn’t work. He needs to be his own man, not subject to the caprice of an impulsive authoritarian. Vice President Vance has the inside track to be the Trump’s designated successor, and he will resent anyone competing in his lane.
Jaw, jaw, not war, war
Jaw, jaw is better than war, war, and Trump has no desire to go to war with China, or anyone else for that matter. Taiwan's de facto independence will be maintained, but we can still get along with the ChiComs. We just need to reach an accommodation that we both can live with. Nixon did it and so can Trump. Trump has been belligerently aggressive with Canada and Mexico on tariffs, but not really with China. China is too big and proud to be bullied.
Fritz Pettyjohn: The great red wave and Article V convention on term limits
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN The inflection point, the moment things really started to turn around, was in October of 2013. That’s when Obamacare was introduced to the American people. Politically, it was catastrophic for the Democrats. A policy they’d been pushing since Truman actually went into effect and began to impact people’s lives. And people were pissed. They’d been told, repeatedly, that if they liked their health insurance, they could keep it.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Kash Patel is just the one to lead FBI
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN The FBI went rogue a very long time ago. Director J. Edgar Hoover was a law unto himself, and everyone in political life was a potential victim. His violations of civil rights were a national disgrace. Throughout his 48 years as director, he broke the law routinely. Like his insufferable successor, James Comey, he believed he answered to “a higher authority” — his own conscience. These are delusions of grandeur.
Kash Patel is just the man for the FBI
The FBI went rogue a very long time ago. J. Edgar Hoover was a law unto himself, and everyone in political life was a potential victim. His violations of civil rights were a national disgrace. Throughout his 48 years as director, he broke the law routinely. Like his insufferable successor, James Comey, he believed he answered to "a higher authority" -- his own conscience. These are delusions of grandeur. The FBI has degenerated into one of the greatest threats to American liberty.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Let's stop harping on the slow ballot count
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Thanks to the extended time to count all the ballots, Republican David Nelson beat the incumbent Democrat by 23 votes in House District 18, (Government Hill, JBER in East Anchorage.) The same thing happened about 40 years ago, allowing my friend Rep. Terry Martin to squeak out a reelection victory. The margin of victory in both cases was due to overseas absentees, most of them military.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Congratulations, Nick Begich!
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Alaska has always been dependent on the federal government, so we like our congressional delegation to build up seniority, and power. It’s in our own self-interest. We had Rep. Don Young for 49 years as a result. His enemies had to indict and convict Ted Stevens to end his 40-year run as one of our two senators. It’s true that his replacement, Mark Begich, only served one term, but he was a Democrat in a Republican state. Democrat Rep.
The Gaetz appointment is a masterstroke
Original Article Posted By: DW626, 11/15/2024 6:31:48 AM Lisa Murkowski is itching to vote against firebrand Matt Gaetz as attorney general. She may not get the chance. If the new Senate leadership recesses the Senate for three days, Gaetz can take office as a recess appointment, circumventing the confirmation process. It remains to be seen if Senate Majority Leader John Thune will play ball.
The Gaetz appointment is a masterstroke
Lisa Murkowski is itching to vote against firebrand Matt Gaetz as attorney general. She may not get the chance. If the new Senate leadership recesses the Senate for three days, Gaetz can take office as a recess appointment, circumventing the confirmation process. It remains to be seen if Senate Majority Leader John Thune will play ball. The Gaetz appointment is a giant middle finger to those in the Justice Department who have harassed Trump since before he took office in 2017.
Fritz Pettyjohn: The beginning of four years of fearless leadership
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Lisa Murkowski is itching to vote against Republican firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz as U.S. Attorney General. She may not get the chance. If the new Senate leadership recesses the Senate for three days, Gaetz can take office as a recess appointment, circumventing the confirmation process. It remains to be seen if Senate Majority Leader Thune will play ball.
A new era for foreign policy
“We are the friends of liberty everywhere, but the guarantor of only our own.” —Thomas Jefferson When I was in the Alaska Legislature back in the 1980s, we were all fat and happy. With oil over $100 a barrel, it was only with difficulty that we were able to spend all the money. Then the price began to fall, and it finally collapsed in 1986 to $32 a barrel. The Alaska economy went into a mini-recession, the housing market nosedived, and cuts to the operating budget were needed.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Reagan shut down the Cold War, and Trump can learn a lesson regarding Iran
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN “We are the friends of liberty everywhere, but the guarantor of only our own.” Thomas Jefferson. When I was in the Alaska Legislature back in the 1980’s we were all fat and happy. With Alaska North Slope crude selling at over $100 a barrel, the only difficulty was how we were going to able to spend all the money. Then the price began to fall and finally collapsed in 1986 to $32 a barrel.
Fritz Pettyjohn: How do you explain Judge Zeman?
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN How do you explain a judge like Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman? How can he justify a decision to overturn the elected representatives of the people, and outlaw a correspondence program relied on my tens of thousands of Alaska parents? He claims to be following the Constitution, but that’s nonsense. The delegates to the constitutional convention left a clear record of their intentions, which he chose to ignore. Behind his black robe disguise Zeman is just another politician.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Which Alaska voters will cast a ballot for Trump and then also vote for Peltola?
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN The best way to see how the political winds are blowing is at Election Betting Odds.com. Every 20 minutes it averages the odds from six different betting sites. A month ago, Kamala Harris had a slight lead. Today Donald Trump is up 61 to 38. What happened? It started when Harris rolled out her new appeal to black men, offering them $25,000 to get into the marijuana business. It was stupid – deprecating and invidious.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Will Kamala pardon Biden Crime Syndicate?
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN As soon as he became President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed as President. President Kamala Harris could pardon not only Joe, but the whole Biden crime family. The resignation would be best done before the November election. If Biden resigned after losing the election, and was then pardoned, it would like a quid pro quo, a deal they cut.
Reviving the Constitution
In calling for a "Second American Revolution," the Heritage Foundation demonstrates its ignorance of the First. The revolution of 1776 overthrew the government of Great Britain in the 13 colonies, and substituted a new one, called the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. This was soon superseded, not overthrown, by the Constitution. We are in the process of reviving or resurrecting that Constitution, not overthrowing it. We are not revolutionaries, we are conservatives.
Fritz Pettyjohn: The stars are aligning for return to a republic, 'if you can keep it'
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Fellow conservatives, our decades of patience and hard work are finally being rewarded. For 60 years we’ve been waiting for the courts to recognize “affirmative action” for what it is: state sanctioned racial discrimination. Finally, at long last, the Supreme Court has ruled that benign intentions cannot justify discriminating against any racial group. For 50 years we waited for the great, and thoroughly unconstitutional exercise of eugenics and birth control known as Roe v.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Time for term limits in Congress
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN There are three things that large majorities of Alaskans, and Americans, right, left and center, can agree on. One is the need to stop the reckless deficit spending, and the ballooning national debt, which are causing inflation. Another is the need to impose term limits on members of Congress. The third is reform of a campaign finance system which currently corrupts Congress and gives incumbents an enormous advantage as they seek reelection.
Fritz Pettyjohn: The lifeline for our national debt crisis is a Convention of States
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Our growing national debt is beginning to impact every American. The inflation caused by federal overspending is hurting us all. The interest on the debt is crowding out other national priorities. Economists of all political persuasions agree that this level of deficit spending cannot be sustained. Neither Trump nor Biden offer a solution. The problem is in Congress, where neither Republicans nor Democrats are capable of reducing spending.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Let the good times roll -- again
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN When I got to Alaska in 1969, the smell of money was in the air. Prudhoe Bay’s oil had just been discovered. People didn’t know how big it was, but everyone thought it would be big, really big. A poor Democratic state was going to get rich, and Republican, and I wanted to be part of it. By the time I hung out a shingle and started my law practice in 1974 the boom was on. In the blink of an eye, my wife and I had three kids and I got started in politics.
Fritz Pettyjohn: A need for a constitutional amendment to reform Congress' runaway spending
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN When the framers drafted the Constitution in 1787, they knew their work would be imperfect, and would require amendment. So Congress was empowered to propose amendments with a two-thirds vote, with ratification of three-quarters of the states also required. All of the 27 amendments to the Constitution have been the result of this process. But what if the needed amendment involved a reform of Congress itself?
Fritz Pettyjohn: Josiah Patkotak is just right for Speaker Pro Tem
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN After Governor Bill Sheffield and Justice Jay Rabinowitz combined to gerrymander me out of my State Senate seat, I ran for the State House in 1984, hoping to figure out a way to get revenge. I got elected, but the House Republican minority of the 14th Alaska Legislature had around 14 members, and we were completely ineffective. Sitka’s Rep. Ben Grussendorf was the Democratic Speaker, but he was only a figurehead. The power in the House was Finance Chair Al Adams of Kotzebue.
The politics of abortion, 2022
Sensible men, who value domestic tranquility, defer to their wives on abortion. Men like Ronald Reagan and Ron DeSantis look to the mother of their children for guidance, and Nancy Davis and Casey DeSantis had and have knowledge and insight on pregnancy, babies, and motherhood that their husbands lack. So it is that both California governor Reagan and Florida governor DeSantis adopted reasonable positions on this vexing issue.
Russia, Ukraine and the price of oil
It looks like Russia will take its second bite out of Ukraine at the end of the Winter Olympics. Its first bite, Crimea, was taken at the end of Sochi Winter Olympics in February of 2014. No one will stop them now, just as no one stopped them eight years ago. Economic sanctions won't deter them now, just as they didn't stop them before. Modern Russian adventurism is tied to the price of oil.
Alexander Dolitsky: Marriage, marital residence, kinship, divorce in Old Believers
By ALEXANDER DOLITSKY Part 2 of 4 on traditions of Old Believers in Alaska Marriage among Alaskan and Siberian Old Believers does not have a unified procedure or typical pattern. As a rule, Old Believers, even those in Russia, do not practice venchaniye (i.e., wedding ceremonies under the Russian Orthodox Church traditions), nor do they acknowledge the legitimacy of civil marriage requirements of the state.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Do we trust Alaskans to decide the dividend question?
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN In Alaska, lawyers decide who gets to be a judge. They control the Judicial Council and they use that control to prevent any judicial conservative from being considered for appointment by the governor. There are no dissenting voices on the Alaska Supreme Court. The lawyers won’t allow it. There’s a simple fix: Repeal the clause of the Constitution which gives the Alaska Bar Association the right to name three members of the Judicial Council.
Win Gruening: Juneau can't plow the streets, but plows ahead with cultural arts center extravagant spending
By WIN GRUENING One would think that after voters nixed a 2019 proposal to give $4.5 million to the Juneau Arts & Humanities Council to subsidize a new cultural arts center (New JACC), the Juneau Assembly would be chastened enough to rethink and revise the whole concept. Well, they re-thought it.
NCAA tweaks its transgender athlete policy Original
The NCAA quietly updated its policy for transgender athletes on Wednesday. For college competition, it will use the same model as the U.S. and International Olympic Committees, which have a sport-by-sport policy. Effective immediately, transgenders who compete as women in women’s college-level sport competitions will be governed by the national governing body of that specific sport. If there is no international federation policy, the IOC policy will be applied.
Fritz Pettyjohn: What to expect - or not to expect - from Juneau this session
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN We know what the big issue will be when the legislature convenes next week. It’s been the same fight for last five years. For four months (or five, or six) they’ll debate, “How big will the PFD be?” There’s no reason to expect that this will be the last such fight. The legislature is divided, and both political parties are divided. The people of Alaska are divided. The only way to resolve the issue, once and for all, is by amending the Alaska Constitution.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Lisa Murkowski and the Supreme Court's decisions on vaccine mandates, concealed carry, and abortion
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN On Jan. 7 the Supreme Court will hear challenges to two vaccine mandates ordered by the Biden administration. It looks as though the court is at last ready to intervene on behalf of basic American liberty. This is a decision that is long overdue, but it will be welcomed by American patriots. If these mandates are overturned, it will be because there is a new “Thomas Majority” on the court. It includes Justices Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett.
Dan Fagan to return to airwaves Tuesday
Dan Fagan, a popular conservative talk show host, returns to the airwaves on Tuesday, Jan. 4, after more than two weeks of sick leave. Fagan has been released from then hospital and said he is feeling well again. His heart started failing shortly after he had his second Covid vaccine on Aug. 12, he said, but he ignored the symptoms until two weeks ago, when he couldn’t breathe well enough to do the show. He called for an ambulance.
Big Supreme Court decisions to watch out for in 2022
On January 7, the Supreme Court will hear challenges to two vaccine mandates ordered by the Biden administration. It looks as though the Court is at last ready to intervene on behalf of basic American liberty. This is a decision that is long overdue, and it will be welcomed by American patriots.
Fritz Pettyjohn: The politicians at the Anchorage Daily News
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Gov. Mike Dunleavy is the latest in a long line of conservative Alaska politicians who have found themselves on the hit list of the Anchorage Daily News. It’s a tradition that goes back 43 years. In 1994, the target was former two-term Lt. Gov. Steve McAlpine, running against Tony Knowles for the Democratic nomination for Governor. McAlpine had a small financial interest in some racehorses in Seattle.
Masks in schools? Sampling of letters received by school board on topic of superintendent's mask removal decision
The Anchorage School Board meets Monday in executive session at 4 pm, and in regular open session at 6 pm. The issue of the superintendent of schools removing the mask mandate when children return to campus in January may come up as a last-minute item at the regular meeting. The board has received over 50 email public comments, with many of them asking the board to overrule the superintendent in her decision to make masks optional across the district.
Fritz Pettyjohn: What are we going to do with all that money?
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN In 1969, when Alaskans realized how much oil was in Prudhoe Bay, people quickly understood the implications. A formerly cash starved state was going to get rich. The questions were how quickly, how rich, and what should be done with all that money? When Alaska Natives demanded a settlement of their land claims, it was apparent this issue needed to be resolved before any pipeline could be built.
Mark Hamilton: Don't let Alaska get 'Pebbled' again
By MARK HAMILTON Something happened. I’m not going to speculate exactly what happened. Representing Pebble mine for three years, I spent far too much time dealing with speculation by opponents with no basis in fact. I have no facts, no smoking gun. But something happened.
Fritz Pettyjohn: The PFD and the constitutional convention
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Why does our Constitution give us the chance, every 10 years, to call for a constitutional convention? The answer is in Article I, sec. 2, which declares “All political power is inherent in the people. All government originates with the people.” If this is true, the people must have the right to intervene in the normal workings of their government, when the necessity arises. In the 62 years since the Alaska Constitution went into effect, such an intervention has not been needed.
Fritz Pettyjohn: The indestructible Don Young
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Don Young has run for Congress 25 times, and lost once, in 1972, to incumbent Nick Begich, who was killed in a plane crash three weeks before the election. He beat Emil Notti in 1973, and then, successively, State Senators Willie Hensley, Eben Hopson and Pat Rodey. After defeating Pat Parnell and Dave Carlson, he faced Begich’s widow, Peggy, in 1984 and 1986.
If you’re looking to replace Don Young, who better than Nick Begich?
By Fritz Pettyjohn Updated: 20 hours ago Published: 20 hours ago Nick Begich III greets supporters, including Ryan McKee, left, chair of the Mat-Su Young Republicans, and Alaska Dept. of Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum, right, during an event where he formally announced his campaign for Alaska’s sole U.S. House seat, on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021 at the Windbreak Cafe in Wasilla. Begich’s grandfather, Nick Begich, once held the seat, now occupied by Don Young.
Fritz Pettyjohn: Taking a look back at the original Rep. Nick Begich
By FRITZ PETTYJOHN Nick Begich III seeks to represent Alaska in Congress, as his grandfather did from 1970 to 1972. Even though young Nick is a conservative Republican businessman, he is suspect in the eyes of many Republicans because of the politics of his uncles Mark and Tom. A better place to look for young Nick’s inspiration is to look at the all-too-brief career of the original Nick Begich. The elder Begich was elected to the State Senate in 1962 at the age of 30.
CNN thinks Murkowski still has a chance
Reporting on Alaska GOP Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka’s strong showing in recent polls and President Trump’s recent endorsement, CNN’s Chris Cillizza admits incumbent Lisa Murkowski is in trouble but thinks she’s still got a shot at winning. “She’s not a lost cause just yet,” he claims. He bases his tepid optimism on three factors: “She has a very well-known name.” It’s true that the Murkowski political dynasty has held a seat in the U.S. Senate for 40 consecutive years.
Comparing James K. Polk's and Trump's successes
March 14, 2021 James K. Polk was one of the most successful presidents in our history, exceeded in his accomplishments only by Washington, Lincoln, and Jackson. He had four goals when he took office in 1845, and he achieved all of them in his one term. He wanted to complete the process of Texas annexation, take California and its ports of San Diego and San Francisco from Mexico, settle the boundary dispute with Britain over the Oregon Territory, and reform the finances of the federal government.
The revenge of Clarence Thomas
Twenty-nine years ago, Joe Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and presided over the "high tech lynching" of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Since then, Brett Kavanaugh has been subjected to similar treatment by the Democratic members of the same committee. Alito, Gorsuch and Barrett were also unfairly abused, if not quite so brutally. Clarence Thomas didn't just take the abuse. He fought back, telling Biden to his face, "...I think that this today is a travesty.
How a local Alaska election shows the new face of the Republican Party
Robb Myers of North Pole, Alaska is a middle-aged family man, a professional truck-driver with virtually no political experience. Upset with the state of affairs in Juneau, he decided to run for the state Senate, challenging its most senior Republican, John Coghill. Seventy-year-old Coghill is the son of former state senator Jack Coghill, a delegate to the 1955 constitutional convention, a conservative stalwart, and one of the founders of the Alaska Republican Party.
An old Indian trick
As wise stewards of the land, North America's Indians routinely started forest fires. They wanted grazing grounds for the animals they hunted, and open spaces to live and hunt on. So before Columbus arrived there was a lot less forested land than we have today. The Europeans put an end to the Indian fires, and for centuries harvested the forests for timber. But that has ended in many parts of the country, California in particular.
Donald Trump, environmentalist
Alaska's Pebble Mine is a world-class deposit of copper and gold, and its enormous wealth would justify a billion dollars-worth of environmental protections. Such precautions might allow responsible development of these ores, but in the case of Pebble, other considerations come into play. Pebble happens to have the misfortune of being smack dab in the middle of the headwaters of Bristol Bay, the world's premiere salmon fishery.
The original black American patriots
The American cause hung by a thread in the summer of 1781. The British were entrenched in New York, and the main Continental Army commanded by George Washington was incapable of dislodging them. In Virginia, a British Army of 7,000 men led by Lord Cornwallis wreaked havoc, opposed only by 900 Continentals under General Lafayette. Governor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Assembly had been chased from Richmond and Charlottesville.
Defund the police, and it's nasty, brutish, and short
In a state of nature, it's all against all, red in tooth and claw, nasty and brutish and short. Governments are formed to protect their citizens from foreign threats and from each other. When governments fail in this duty, people resort to self-help, also known as vigilantism. It's no way for a civilized people to live. We've seen it already, in New York City, with Italian-Americans, and in Chicago, with Latin Americans. Defund the police, and you'll see it in Minneapolis, or wherever it's tried.
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