I’m just kidding really – I teach nonviolence so it would not do for me to go around kicking butt in a literal way. Like you I do enjoy the mix of folks you find in Montana: School Marms who hunt Elk, Hippy tree huggers with law degrees, Fly fishing novelists and so on.

Hush D

As a life-long westerner who has also lived in NYC and DC, it’s been amusing to watch East Coast political handicappers try to figure out western politics. One mistake I see made time again is assuming that the West might as well be called West State, as if the entire 9-state intermountain region is one large state with a homogenous population. The good western politicians understand how far from reality this thought is, but I’m not sure east-based observers do. I see far more difference in politics between Idaho and Montana or Montana and Wyoming than, say, New York and New Jersey or Virginia and North Carolina.

The David Sirota comment gets close to the interplay of what may seem to be contradictory politics in a national context. In Missoula there were three conversations only: hunting, skiing and fly fishing. In the most liberal city in the state, finding a neighbor who hunted duck or elk was as easy as finding fleece-clad Subaru Outback driver (in other words, just open your eyes). And, in some twist on Take Your Daughter to Work Day, I knew a couple men who brought their teenage daughters on their elk expeditions and I knew one couple who brought their 8-week-old newborn into the woods in season. This was not some redneck backwater, this was Missoula. Point is, there are quite a few people (myself included) who consider themselves both environmentalists and who hunt and see absolutely no contradiction in the association.

Yes, I think the point is that in the West they try to broaden who would support environmental protection and access beyond the “weekend warriors” to the more traditional baits and bullets folks. There are social differences that sometimes keep them apart.

Montana Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON OPPORTUNITY:

Who: The Royal Ruler himself: GEORGE W. BUSH will be in Billings

What: A private, invitation only Republican Fundraiser for Conrad Burns,
with a gala PEACE PRESENCE on the outside, consisting of
Folks just like YOU from all over Montana

Where: At the Metra Park Arena, Billings. Maps can be found at:
(Or you can ride share,
see below)

When: Festivities begin at noon. Republicans have been advised to be at
the arena at 10:30. WE INTEND TO BE THERE TOO.

JUST FOR YOU: Carpools will be leaving Bozeman at 7:00 A. M.
We have interesting signs and materials for crafting your own message.
There are rumors of a potential presence of some orange jump suited, black
hooded prisoners of Bush and Burns justice – could this be you? Let us
know.

TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE OR VOLUNTEER TO DRIVE:
Margarita McLarty
586-2876

Hush D

http://www.ducks.org/

Abortion, for one, doesn’t have the knee jerk potential in Montana that it does in Mississippi.

Also, there is an interesting connection to how gun rights in the West connect with environmentalism. David Sirota: “Second, it let us speak to both left-leaning environmentalists, who wanted public lands and wildlife herds maintained, and right-leaning outdoorsmen, who wanted a place to recreate and a steady population of game to hunt. This was especially important because we did not want to alienate the enviros who would be out in force on election day to vote against an initiative to permit cyanide leach mining. Stern, who had a deft sense of strategy, once pointed out, ‘Hunters can be some of the biggest environmentalists around, even though they don’t think of themselves that way and would never in a million years label themselves that.’”

MONTANA VERSION OF “SURVIVOR”

Contestants must travel from Billings through Bozeman, Butte, Helena, Great Falls and back to Billings through Grass range and Roundup. They must drive a Volvo with a bumper sticker that reads: “I’m gay, an abortion doctor, and I’m here to take your guns.”

First one to make the round-trip safely is the winner!

The abortion issue impacts the whole country but frankly gun prohibition is typically a very urban issue only. Also, abortion laws are restricting rights just like gun laws do. I am no gun nut but I hope the dems can embrace the right to bear arms crowd and become more populist in that vein – I hope it is a new model! When Schweitzer was asked how many guns he owned he responded “more than I need and less than I want”. That is probably true and good politicking as well. I believe a gay, abortion doctor could win an election in Montana if he had lots of guns and challenged his opponent to a fist fight during a public debate.

Hush D