As a teenager, I didn't realize that I saw the world only as it related to me. It seems normal to understand the world in terms of its influence on you as a person. I can trace the learning curve of my life in four years. In the 1968 election, I had a choice between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. I supported Nixon because I thought he was more likely to end the Vietnam War, and I didn't want to go. In the 1972 election between Nixon and McGovern, I worked for McGovern. This four-year transformation took place in Anderson and Muncie, Indiana, during my experiences in college and graduate school. It was also influenced by my work experiences selling Bibles in North Carolina and South Carolina, serving as a youth pastor at a church in Alabama, and working as a massage therapist at a health club in Anderson and Muncie. I went from being vice president of the Young Republicans in college to being a graduate student for George McGovern.

In 2024, the theme of the North Dakota Republican primary was loyalty to Donald Trump. Politics is often theater. However, the ads in this campaign reached absurd levels. The ads exaggerated Trump's themes of the dangers of immigration, the threat of taking away guns, and the view that the justice system in America is being used by Democrats as a weapon against Trump. Trump portrays himself as a defender/savior of the common people against the evil Democrats who want to take away people's rights and money. The ads supporting the Republican governor and Republican congressional candidate featured guns, bows, and concrete blocks. Tammy Miller shot a human target with a pistol. Kelly Armstrong shot a target with a bow. Rick Becker held an assault rifle and promised to push back the invasion of immigrants. Julie Fedorchak has concrete blocks in her pickup truck (the truck has a Trump sticker), implying that she will build the border wall.

The vested interests of these ads include your right to own a gun, stopping bad people from stealing your stuff, building a wall to stop immigrants, and supporting Donald Trump. Trump supporters view all people who don't support Trump as enemies. These ads did not mention Wells County or any North Dakota issues, only Trump issues.

My support for Nixon changed when I learned he had lied about the U.S. bombing of Cambodia. Later, he also lied about Watergate. Not only was Nixon not good for me, he was not good for America. His own party called on him to resign, and he did.

Trump was convicted of filing false documents claiming his hush money payments as legal fees. The jury found Trump lied. Loyalty to a liar is not in the best interest of North Dakota. Pistols, assault rifles, bows and arrows, and concrete blocks to build a wall do not represent the interests of the people of North Dakota. In 1964, I liked Barry Goldwater, but North Dakota voters elected Democrat Lyndon Johnson. North Dakota voters thought Goldwater was “trigger-happy” and extreme. North Dakota voters feel that extremism or lying is not in their best interest. I hope they still do.