Transfer of Public Lands back at MT Legislature

[Straight Arrow]

... how did these people get elected in the first place ...

Unfortunately the more prominent issues at the state and federal level elicit support for the more conservative, even far right candidates, and thus those people are elected. The PLT issue is hot button on this forum and on the minds of hunters and sportsmen, but otherwise is not a top priority issue with much of the voting public. Hopefully, through news and other venues the public will become better educated and more aware of the issue and of the wrong-headed thinking of those proponents and will respond accordingly in the next go around.

 

[Ben Lamb]

She represents a district where all she has to do is combine the words "Obama, the USFS, loss of logging jobs, federal gubmint, gun rights, and freedom" into a flyer or speech and people will vote for her. The fact that she only got 6700 votes was progress this election, believe it or not...

And where no credible republican has run against her. Senator Fielder is termed out, with 2019 being her last session as a senator. Like most politicians in Montana, I would expect her to run for the House seat next, if not statewide office.

Voters in her district are conservative by a large margin. That they voted for the Republican candidate should not surprise any of us.

 

[u1299]

You could be correct, it's easy to get so involved in the PLT issue on this forum to assume the rest of the voting public give it the same relevance, which may not be the case. It was however a pretty big issue during the campaign here in Montana for sure. I've been pretty satisfied with the economic situation in Montana and the Nation over the last 8 years (probably going to catch hell for that statement) despite the rhetoric that the whole world was coming to and end and we needed to make America Great Again, so for me at least the PLT issue was the most important issue out there.

 

[Straight Arrow]

I've been pretty satisfied with the economic situation in Montana and the Nation over the last 8 years ...

u1299, I agree. Although not a big fan of Obama, what I have been asserting is that the economy is not that bad, certainly not the great depression many political candidates have tried to describe as a reason for drastic changes. Just look around; the situation is pretty good for most folks and the numbers of newer vehicles, high dollar recreational "toys" and such running around attest to that. I contend that it would be much better to assess additional taxes specified to pay for the infrastructure maintenance and upgrade costs, as well as to make Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid healthy ... than to sell off public lands to generate revenue. However, the "no more taxes, gut the government" ideology has been so deeply ingrained that it is almost a religion for many ... too many, IMO.

 

[u1299]

u1299, I agree. Although not a big fan of Obama, what I have been asserting is that the economy is not that bad, certainly not the great depression many political candidates have tried to describe as a reason for drastic changes. Just look around; the situation is pretty good for most folks and the numbers of newer vehicles, high dollar recreational "toys" and such running around attest to that. I contend that it would be much better to assess additional taxes specified to pay for the infrastructure maintenance and upgrade costs, as well as to make Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid healthy ... than to sell off public lands to generate revenue. However, the "no more taxes, gut the government" ideology has been so deeply ingrained that it is almost a religion for many ... too many, IMO.

Very well said, I appreciate your response.

 

[ecb]

This is about some form of theft , no one ever wants to take public lands to benefit the public.