Lake County Montana
In this interview, General Flynn describes the situation we are facing with global vaccine passports, the military being used as guinea pigs and having understandable recruiting problems, transhumanism, the Chinese style digital currency cards for controlling our purchases, etc. He reminds us that our country was built from the bottom up, and that is where the solutions need to come from.
Interview link: Here
Guest column in the Flathead Beacon:
For the foreseeable future, we will hold public meetings every six to eight weeks across Montana to consider reforms
BY BOB KEENAN, CHARLIE BRERETON & JOHN ESP
Suicide. Addiction. Loneliness. The struggle to find mental health services or appropriate supports for individuals with developmental disabilities. Patients receiving care in places that aren’t best for them.
The list of challenges facing our communities is long and years in the making, and the time for setting that list aside is over.
This spring, Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Montana Legislature invested $300 million to reform and improve Montana’s behavioral health and developmental disabilities service systems. It is the largest investment of its kind in state history.
As members of the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations (BHSFG) Commission, we are charged with providing recommendations on how to best utilize this historic investment. With backgrounds as service providers, legislators, and state officials, we take this responsibility seriously. But we can’t do it alone.
For the foreseeable future, we will hold public meetings every six to eight weeks across Montana to consider reforms and gather information from community stakeholders, many of whom have direct experience with individuals living with behavioral health conditions or developmental disabilities. All meetings include the opportunity for valuable public comment.
At the three meetings held since July, judges, county attorneys, sheriffs, jail commanders, family members, suicide prevention experts, hospital psychiatrists, community-based behavioral health and developmental disabilities service providers, tribal officials, crisis response teams, key stakeholders, and state officials came together to share experiences from the field, and most importantly, offer long-term solutions.
In a recent meeting in Missoula, we heard compassionate testimony from providers about the immense struggles they face in serving families dealing with mental health crises and other similar issues. It’s clear our communities are hurting, and the systems currently in place simply can’t keep up.
This is our chance to make a meaningful difference in expanding and integrating community-based behavioral health care and developmental disabilities services in Montana, and to help improve the quality of services offered at the Montana State Hospital and other state-run health care facilities.
Already, we adopted two recommendations for consideration by the governor. One is to address the backlog of court-ordered mental health evaluations across the state, and the other is to increase residential bed capacity in adult behavioral health, developmental disabilities, and children’s mental health service areas.
Our next meeting will be in Kalispell over two days from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 and will provide members of the public, service providers, and other important stakeholders with another opportunity to weigh in on how we can best assist communities and lay the foundation for multi-year reform.
Additional meeting dates and locations will be announced online at futuregenerations.mt.gov.
We encourage all Montanans to join us and make your voices heard as more recommendations are brought forward. Our work is only beginning. Together, we can use this investment to help our neighbors in need – both now and for future generations.
Rep. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, is the chairman of the BHSFG Commission and sponsor of HB 872. Charlie Brereton is the Director of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and co-chairman of the BHSFG Commission. Sen. John Esp, R-Big Timber, is a member of the BHSFG Commission and co-sponsored HB 872.
Below is NOT a history lesson.
This short missive is a lesson in reality—the reality now smacking us across our heads like a 2X4.
In 1838, at the age of 28, Abraham Lincoln gave an address to a group of young men gathered in Springfield, Illinois.
His speech was titled “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions.”
The specific topic of Lincoln’s speech was citizenship in a constitutional republic and threats to U.S. institutions.
In the speech, Lincoln discussed in glowing terms the political regime established by the Founding Fathers, but warned of a destructive force from within.
He said:
“Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never!
All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted), in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years.”
Lincoln then asked the audience (this is the important part):
“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected?”
Lincoln answered his own question:
“If it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.”
__________
If Lincoln could see this at the ripe old age of 28, nearly 185 years ago, why can’t a large chunk of American citizens not see this?
Our nation’s “destruction” is NOT due to overseas threats, it’s principally due to our own complacency as citizens.
For our constitutional republic to prevail, for our institutions to NOT collapse from within, citizens must get involved.
I implore those that read this, to discuss with your families, your churches, your local clubs, your communities, your elected officials, any willing to listen, that the time is now to recognize what President Lincoln stated 22 years before he became POTUS, that our demise will NOT be from without, but from within.
In his well known and eloquent oratory style, Lincoln was reminding those attending his speech that Local Action as citizens mattered then as it matters now.
The time is now to stand up, step up, and speak up!
🦅🙏🏼🇺🇸
Nov 11, 2023
