Noses, Choices, and the Price of Ignorance

According to a Facebook message I got the other day, abortion is “a disgrace and stench in the nostrils of God.” Also, I am running on the wrong ticket, and I have tariffs all wrong. There was a time when I would have countered by asking what happens in God’s nostrils when an abortion ban kills a young mother. I would have explained how the cost of tariffs fall on consumers and how trade protectionism has repeatedly failed to achieve its goals and has hurt our economy. I would have shouted into the storm. 

Now I know better. In the eye of Hurricane Ignorance, abortion bans have not created any difficulties, tariffs are paid by the exporting country, and replacing income taxes with tariffs would result in a budget surplus and make millionaires of us all. At the center of the storm, Haitians are eating pets in Ohio and—as my opponent, Julie Fedorchak, believes—doctors are delivering and then euthanizing healthy babies. 

Fedorchak approves of the Dobbs decision because it lets the states decide, but she would also like to see a national abortion ban, perhaps at sixteen weeks, while leaving states free to enact more stringent measures. She said in a primary debate that she believes human life begins at conception, in which case destroying an embryo would be murder. Since it is an election year, both she and “the father of IVF,” Donald Trump, are just fine with in vitro fertilization despite the fact that embryos are often discarded in the process. We can take them at their word, of course. It’s not like any Republican has said one thing on the subject of abortion (say, in a confirmation hearing) and then done another. 

North Dakota has never sent a woman to the U.S. House. When we do, it ought to be a woman who respects other women’s choices and wants to expand liberty and opportunity for everyone. My opponent is not that person. Her unprompted “post-birth abortion” comment in a primary debate evinces a lack of healthy skepticism when presented with outrageous lies. Her ads tout her Trump endorsement, and she has repeatedly said that she would “stand with Trump” in Congress. That’s not the job. Congress was designed to be a check on the executive branch, not a rubber stamp. 

I believe that respecting one another’s freedom means letting folks make choices for themselves, not dictating from the Capitol. That’s not what I learned from my parents in Velva, North Dakota. And it’s certainly not what I’ll stand for if elected to Congress. We need leaders who believe that the measure of respect is shown in the freedom we afford each other.

The U.S. House has plenty of Representatives standing ready to aid and abet government intrusion into our lives as persons, patients, and parents. North Dakota needn’t send another one. That would be a disgrace and a stench in the nostrils of everyone who has struggled for freedom.

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With the U.S. House seat open, the race for North Dakota’s sole congressional district has never been more competitive.

Trygve Hammer is a Navy and Marine Corps veteran, a former public school teacher, and a freight rail conductor. He was appointed to the Naval Academy from the fleet and served as a Marine helicopter pilot, forward air controller, and infantry officer. 

From bunking down in oilfield camps to engaging uninterested teenagers in the classroom, Trygve’s career has been a tour of duty in the trenches of American life. Trygve’s commitment to public service is unwavering. He lives by the ethos “Officers Eat Last” and is ready to serve as North Dakota’s next Congressman, putting the people's needs first.

Watch Trygve’s campaign launch video here.