I had a nice week off, going to Helena and Butte.
Still, things were happening during that time. Let’s discuss a few of those things.
Still, things were happening during that time. Let’s discuss a few of those things.
Firework Bans
I like Butte – you can light fireworks off in town. My family does that each year, from around noon until two or so.
Here in Missoula, you can’t do that – the city has a ban in place. A big reason for this is that pets might get scared.
Still, last night there were a lot of people lighting them off in town.
I wish Missoula would just get rid of this ban. If I run for the City Council again – and somehow get elected – I’d bring that issue to the table.
People can keep their pets inside. The good people of Butte don’t seem to have an issue.
Why can’t Missoula say the same?
Pulling at Straws
I see the Helena Democrats are pulling at straws, hoping against hope they can find something that will stick against Gianforte.
Their latest attempt is a nearly 2-year-old audio recording of an interview Gianforte gave to the Missoulian when he was running for governor.
If that’s all they got, then gosh…they don’t have much.
And I really wonder how successful they’ll be with their assaulting-a-reporter argument.
- Many people in Montana have had run-ins that’ve become violent at one time or another.
- Many also don’t have a lot of respect for the media.
- And the right-leaning voters do view this election as important.
Mostly, The Montana Post is becoming wildly out of touch with regular, everyday Montanans.
But hey – they got 1,600 likes on their Gianforte audio article.
With numbers like that, how can their candidates lose?
The ICE Protests
“Occupy Ice protests have spread across the US,” the Guardian noted the other day.
There have been a ton of these anti-immigration-enforcement rallies now, all in cities…typically already-in-the-bag areas for Democrats when it comes to elections.
But what does the rest of the country think…or at least the 19% that’s living in rural areas, about 60 million people?
I think they want immigration enforcement, and I think – along with Trump’s Supreme Court pick – this will only embolden them to get to the polls.
You see, I agree with James Conner at Flathead Memo: “These rallies may be sending another message to the nation…progressives care more about immigrants than they do about Americans…”
Candidate Junk Mail
Have you begun receiving junk mail from any of the candidates so far?
I haven’t. Mostly, I’ve been taken off mailing lists.
Well…not all mailing lists. I get a ton of political junk mail for candidates.
Here are some recent examples I’ve received:
Once you file to run for office – usually by March – you begin to get this stuff in the mail.
I think if you even put in a notice that you’re going to fundraise before filing starts, these vultures get your address from the states’ SoS offices.
I get at least three to four pieces of mail like this a week leading up to the primary, usually the postcard variety.
Then it fades off before picking up again before the general.
It’s a huge waste…but many candidates hire companies like these to print up junk mail they can then send to you.
It’s big money, too – in 2016 the U.S. Postal Service figured that $12.3 billion worth of the stuff would be sent out (during the 2012 race, the Post Office made $525 million alone from this junk).
We also know that in 2016, a whopping $6.4 billion was spent by candidates, political parties, and interest groups…and just on federal elections.
So yeah…it ain’t going away anytime soon.
Oh, it could. You’d just have to put your foot down and make it clear you won’t vote for anyone that pretends to care about the environment, yet fills up our landfills with this shit.
You could put your foot down on a lot of things, actually. It’s how change comes about.
And politicians should put their foot down, too, as they’re just wasting their time and money.
According to a Stanford and a Berkeley professor that did 49 field experiments, “for every flyer stuck in a mailbox, every door knocked by an earnest volunteer, and every candidate message left on an answering machine, there was no measurable change in voting outcomes.”
The two “also estimated that the effect of television and online ads is zero.”
I sure hope our Montana politicians take that to the bank.
Trump in Great Falls
I guess we better mention the elephant in the state.
Trump’s talking at 4 in Great Falls, and all the local TV stations will be carrying it live.
Should be a real circus, with both a ton of supporters and probably a couple hundred protesters.
Trump’s goal is to of course get rid of Tester this fall. He’s pinning his hopes on Matt Rosendale.
It’ll be a tight race, even tighter if the Greens are allowed to stay on the ballot (when the hell is their next court date, anyways?).
I want to vote for the Greens, but I feel they’ll be booted.
I’d never vote for Tester. I’ve dug into his finances and his votes too much for that. Do that and you realize this guy isn’t working in your interest.
I might vote for Rosendale if the Greens are gone, though I’ll probably just skip this race if that’s the case.
Still, the idea of having Tester for another 6 years – and a completely dysfunctional MT Dem Party that ignores rural areas and winning the legislature – doesn’t appeal to me.
He wins again and I’m confident Dems will retain their piss-poor leadership, meaning they’ll never take a majority in the legislature for the next 6 years.
I wonder if Trump will talk about any of that today.
Doesn’t really matter to me – my life still hasn’t changed since he was elected.
That’s one of the things you realize about America – no matter who gets elected, nothing really changes.
Why is that?
Notes
Conner, James. “Democrats and progressives must put America first.” Flathead Memo. 2 July 2018. http://www.flatheadmemo.com/archives_2018/july_2018/2018-07-02_march.htm
Davis, Jesse. “Fireworks Restrictions Vary By City.” Daily Interlake. 28 June 2013. http://www.dailyinterlake.com/archive/article-50d80130-e04f-11e2-bcc5-001a4bcf887a.html
Green, Emma. “Most Campaign Outreach Has Zero Effect.” The Atlantic. 30 September 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/campaigns-direct-mail-zero-effect/541485/
Kosted, Nathan. “Montanans have a right to know.” The Montana Post. 3 July 2018. https://themontanapost.com/2018/07/03/montanans-have-a-right-to-know/
Levin, Sam. “Occupy Ice: protest camps expand across US amid calls to shutter agency.” The Guardian. 3 July 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/03/occupy-ice-protests-immigration-families
“New Census Data Show Differences Between Urban and Rural Populations.” United States Census Bureau. 8 December 2016. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2016/cb16-210.html
“’Tis the Season for Political Mail.” United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. 18 April 2016. https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/tis-season-political-mail
