From The Daily Montanan Mailbag

By Daily Montanan Staff, Daily Montanan

February 16, 2021

The Daily Montanan doesn’t have a “letters to the editor” page, but we will — as time and interest allow – post some letters we’ve gotten. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, feel free to email: [email protected] Guest views are considered on a case-by-case basis, but those can also be submitted to that address as well.

In the article “Why is America spending $100 billion to send nukes to Montana?,” Darrell Ehrlick makes excellent points against new nuclear weapons, citing a new article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists that warns more nuclear weapons will not make the U.S. safer. I hope Sen. Jon Tester, Sen. Steve Daines, and Rep. Matt Rosendale will heed this warning and question the enormous spending on modernizing nuclear weapons.

Pouring billions of tax dollars into new weapons for a Cold War system doesn’t make sense. “What happens if you put $100 billion into healthcare instead of a not very useful missile program?” says Elisabeth Eaves, the author of the report.

Montanans need health care, tax relief, and education. And I don’t want my home state to be a “nuclear sponge.” Cutting billions in wasteful nuclear weapons spending will reduce the risk of accidental nuclear war and enable Congress to tackle the real problems of our time.

Let’s hope our Montana elected officials agree.

Jasmine Krotkov
Great Falls, Montana

Krotkov is a former member of the Montana House of Representatives, District 25.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher. Burke is regarded by most political historians in the English-speaking world as the father of modern British Conservative politics. Winston Churchill quoted him often, Russell Kirk’s “The Conservative Mind”, in 1953 used Burke as a starting point to conservative principles adopted by the modern American conservative movement.

I’m doing as Winston Churchill might have in revisiting Burke’s quotes, although my selection might differ slightly. Although Burke observed the “tyranny of free governments” at times he also said the following: “Crimes lead into one another — they who are forgers are capable of being in incinderaries.”

The use of this quote could be leavened against the common criminal who’s severity of criminality escalates through time. But it is equally applicable to white-collar criminals or of a once impeached president, not convicted and facing a second impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate after an incendiary incitement to insurrection on Jan. 6.

In welcoming those involved in past highly unethical or even criminal behavior into one’s political party and then not restricting them highly while in office, Edmund Burke’s warnings are not heeded, back to conservative basics are needed.

Erwin Curry
Missoula, Montana

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