Letters to the editor Oct. 12

Protect our way of life

Rick and I honeymooned here in 1977, and that’s when I fell in love with Montana. After raising our four boys in California, we moved to Montana full time in 2009. We came for the open space, honest neighbors and the opportunity to build a good life.

Over the years, we watched California change — families facing higher taxes, more regulations and policies that too often came with consequences for the people who had to live with them.

Sam Forstag’s platform concerns me. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed him, and even rallied with him in Missoula. His platform includes higher taxes, a $15 federal minimum wage, government-funded universal childcare and a Medicare option for everyone.

We don’t want to see western Montana adopt policies that contributed to the problems we left California to escape.

Aaron Flint served in Iraq and Afghanistan and came home with two Bronze Stars. For more than a decade, he has been on the front lines of Montana’s airwaves, giving Montanans a voice.

Montana families deserve a representative who will focus on lower taxes, affordable energy and protecting the way of life that makes this state special.

My support is also personal. After our son was murdered in Singapore, Aaron stood with our family for years. He gave us a voice when we needed one and treated us with kindness and compassion. I will always be grateful.

We left California once. We want Montana to remain Montana. That’s why I’m supporting Aaron Flint.

­— Mary Todd, Kalispell

Sticking up for Montana

High-rolling Aaron Flint supporters have declared war on Montana’s working citizens. Sam Forstag is about to throw a Pulaski into the financial laundering tree of multi-billionaire backstabbers in Montana. 

The national debt is at $40 trillion, One Big Beautiful Bill added $4 trillion more to it. And what’s Aaron Flint’s biggest retort against Sam? That he’s an LGBTQ enabler. 

Well this enabler is going to enable Montanans to live normal lives again. The president allowed 300 tons of foreign beef to be imported and undercut Montana ranchers. Sam is going to stick origin country labels on every piece of meat in the state so we can know to support our own farmers. Montana has the third highest veteran population in the country, we don’t need to be siphoning off their funds to start a pointless war in Iran. We need to help veterans at home and abroad. 

And most notably, wildfires. We don’t need to have big billionaires stealing Forest Service personnel to protect their own private property while the rest of us watch our homes burn. These mega faux-monarchs need to pull their own dang weight. Sam’s going to make them pay.  

Thank you, Sam Forstag, for sticking up for Montana!

­— Nicole Pepaj, Missoula

Voting for change

If you are pleased with the way things are going in our nation, then keep voting the same tired party-line vote. 

That is, if you are pleased with the undeclared-war, the steady rise in the cost of everything from gas to food, and the way our Congress has failed to provide a counter-balance to the executive branch, then keep voting a party line. If you are pleased with the way our government is treating our closest and oldest friends and neighbors like Canada, and you like the way our national debt is out of control, keep voting as you have done in the past. 

But I am voting for a change in our Senate race.

This year in Montana we have an alternative to the old party choices for our next senator. Seth Bodnar is running as an independent because he is tired of the same old thing and the failure of our senators and congressmen to defend the Constitution and our Bill of Rights. A vote for anyone else is a vote for Kurt Alme, who is the anointed successor of the Sen. Steve Daines team. 

Bodnar has served our nation in combat, in business and in our university. I encourage you to vote differently this year in our senatorial race by voting for independent Seth Bodnar.

— Scott Wheeler, Kalispell