And no politician deserves your loyalty. I may make a personal exception for Reagan and Carter – it is altogether proper to speak no ill of the dead, and there is definitely no chance of either returning to office. Still, in general, no politician deserves my loyalty or yours.
Let me comment on Trump. He has been the best President on Second Amendment issues in my lifetime. Hell, probably in my grandfather’s lifetime and mine put together. I voted, hoping he would be better than Hilary Clinton – and he has been. Particularly on gun issues. On the nation’s finances, not so much. If Trump were to leave the presidency today, the national debt went above 40 trillion dollars on his watch, and 42% of it occurred under President Donald Trump. On the gripping hand, he has made an effort to reduce the size of government and cut down the spending. He just hasn’t been particularly good at it.
At the Montana level, my favorite politician is Austin Knudsen – our Attorney General. I appreciate a guy with a Juris Doctorate who can understand what “shall not be infringed” means. Many JD’s can’t seem to understand what Knudsen does. He sees the challenges of uncontrolled immigration – not even the USA can assimilate immigrants who are so greatly out of synch with our common values. He was part of getting a bad chapter on climate removed from the Federal Judicial Center’s Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence – and that was a generally good thing. Despite these spots where the guy is great, his campaign ethics have been a bit questionable, and the Committee on Practice did recommend that his law license be suspended. He has been good on my top issues – but that doesn’t qualify him for a Certificate of Sainthood. (Over 30 years ago, I received a Certificate of Sainthood, given me by friends whom I believe purchased it from the Progressive Universal Life Church). I like the guy, but I would prefer those flaws weren’t there.
Locally? I like Mike Cuffe – now term limited out of the state legislature – but he did vote for a “housekeeping” bill, supported by both parties, that essentially eliminated write-in ballots in races with only a single candidate running. Never had to vote against him because term limits removed that need – but Zooey Zephyr voted against that same vote-limiting bill that Mike voted for. No loyalty earned by either. I think about Jon Tester – a man most people who met him liked – yet lacking a voting record I could support across the board. Hell, even Joe Biden occasionally did things that were in my best interest.
Obviously, the Yankee dollar needs protection. Equally obviously, there’s a qualitative difference in today’s immigrants that yields less assimilation into American culture. I’ll be happy to see the entire National Firearms Act ruled unconstitutional and gone during my lifetime – I do understand the meaning of ‘shall not be infringed. I want a strong dollar and a strong military that doesn’t get involved in wars. Like most Montanans, I look back in history and have a bit of pride in those early Montanans who organized in Bannack and strung up a duly elected, but crooked, sheriff on his own gallows. I’m fairly sure that Plummer was the first person elected to public office in Montana – and a few months later, a group of Montanans acted to correct their voting error.
There are times when we need to correct our voting errors. In 1976, I voted for Jimmy Carter, and he won. His performance in office motivated me to vote for his opponent in 1980. Jimmy was probably the finest ex=president our nation has ever had.
Neither party nor politician deserves my loyalty – but some politicians may earn my support.
Leave a Reply