Jim Elliott

There has been a lot of talk for the past few years about protecting our “institutions” like the Constitution or the “Rule of Law”. So, what’s an institution? Easy question, but difficult to explain.

When I first began to write newspaper columns in 1989 it was because I was a newly elected Montana state representative and needed to communicate with my new bosses, the people of Sanders and Lincoln counties. I was encouraged in this by my predecessor in the office, and it was good advice. At first I wrote columns only during the legislative sessions but it soon evolved into a biweekly column that I kept up over the years. In 1992, I think, I began distributing my articles to weekly newspapers across Montana.

Now, I realized, I had a responsibility to my readers to be informati

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