This June, vote in favor of a study commission to look at your city and county form or government.
Please Follow us on Gab, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, GETTR, Truth Social, Twitter
Have you ever lived with a Big Brother? If so, I hope he was a good one, not a controlling one. A “good” one would let you play, try, fail, learn, grow and be yourself. A controlling one, on the other hand, would likely be constantly breathing down your neck. Restricting your abilities. Preventing adventures. Stunting your imagination. All this CONTROL, of course, is done for your own good, you know, to keep you “safe” he would claim.
Youngsters in these types of controlling relationships know in their heart that this is not how things should be. Their spirit yearns for the freedom they were born with. Yet, they settle in, compromising to keep the peace. They learn to ignore the yearning. Soon they become complacent. Convincing themselves that this is “just the way things are”.
This controlling “Big Brother” relationship is EXACTLY the relationship you in most Montana Counties are experiencing right now. In fact, It has been “JUST THE WAY THINGS ARE” for so long, complacent has become compliant.
Your Big Brother is, of course, THE STATE. You see, if your county form of government is a “General Powers” form, the state is empowered to turn your American concept of freedom on its head, “if there’s not a law that says I can’t, I CAN" becomes under general powers a tyrannical reality of "If there’s not a law that says you can, YOU CAN’T." It's for your own good. Just ask Big Brother.
EVERYTHING is impacted, from law enforcement and the power of your County Commissioners to your local elections. If you have interacted with your county government, you have probably heard these words multiple times; “We have to run this by our county attorney before we can make a decision,” or something similar. Why is this heard so often? The county attorney must check to see if the county officials are allowed by the state to act on your behalf. For instance, today "The State" does not allow your county to inspect local elections.
To restore your American Born freedoms and begin living under a government that believes and lives by; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness - That TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS GOVERNMENTS ARE INSTITUTED AMONG MEN…(emphasis added), You see, our founders, from the very first document to which they pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to make a reality, was FIRST, TO SECURE YOUR RIGHTS as Americans. To restore those rights that have been forfeited in Montana, counties must adopt a Charter form of Government. Rights not exercised are surrendered, almost always to some level of government.
What makes the U.S. the most powerful nation on the planet? The FREEDOM of its PEOPLE. It is high time to reclaim YOURS.
This June, you will have the once-every-10-year-opportunity to choose to stay under the thumb of Big-Brother, or accept the power, authority and responsibility you were born with, and your Forefathers fought for you to maintain. Your independence will not come easy. Expect all the friends of BIG GOVERNMENT to come against you. Trying to convince you that YOU’RE not capable and don’t deserve to be FREE! There is nothing the government desires more than power. In a Republic, the ONLY way the government can gain power is to take it from you! Ask yourself; Is my current form of Government based upon fulfilling the government's first obligation, securing YOUR RIGHTS?
The information below is submitted by the editor to help further inform the reader on this topic.
Attached is the Elected County Officials form and the various sub-options available to the commission form of government. Also attached a handout of the powers denied to local governments with the
updates from the 2023 legislative session.
The basic difference between being a charter county and a self-governing county is as follows:
1. A charter can pursue doing anything the state legislature doesn't prohibit it from doing. This means as a county or city with a charter you can have more flexibility with what you do (grow government or
shrink it), as well as, being able to pursue unique solutions to challenges.
2. A self government model (54 of 56 counties are) means you are only allowed to do what the state legislature specifically allows you to do and you cannot deviate from that. It limits what your local government can do.
For further information please contact Dan Clark and the Montana State University Local Government Center.
Dan Clark
Director
MSU Local Government Center
Culbertson Hall 235-A
P.O. Box 170535
Bozeman, MT 59717
Office: 406-994-7756
Cell: 406-570-4259
FAX: 406-994-1905
email: [email protected]
