Montana is truly a beautiful place. The scenery is magnificent and the place teems with wildlife (proven by the many deer that frequent my back yard and the bear trap that is sitting across the street!). However, I would venture that I will be gone within the next 12 to 18 months. That is unfortunate. I have a nice house with a great view and Bozeman is a great city to live in. In spite of its relatively small size (50,000 people), there are very good restaurants and a surprising amount of culture. Great skiing is 16 miles away at Bridger Bowl and, Big Sky, a world class resort is just 40 miles away. Hiking trails abound and it is a world-class flyfishing destination. So, why would I even contemplate leaving?
Let me explain what is going on in Montana since it got painted bright red in the last election. I’ll start with COVID. Montana now ranks as one of the states with the highest case rates. I think we just beat out Alaska for the number one spot. Governor Gianforte and the Republicans passed a law banning mask mandates and Montana has the only law in the country that makes it illegal for private businesses to require vaccinations. Some hospitals in the state are now overwhelmed and Governor Gianforte has even called out some members of the National Guard to help in hospitals with non-medical tasks.
And, speaking of mask mandates, our newly elected Montana Superintendent of Education, Elsie Arntzen, attended an anti-mask rally at the State Capitol recently, along with another Montana State Senator, Theresa Manzella. I won’t waste your time repeating some of the nonsense that these women spewed at this rally but suffice it to say, it just boggles the mind that two publicly elected officials who are supposed to represent the entire state or district they are from, are engaged in clearly partisan activities that run completely contrary to the best medical and scientific evidence. However, given the example set by our governor, one should expect no less.
If you thought that was bad, another recent event truly boggles the mind. Our newly elected Republican Attorney General has demonstrated a penchant during his time in office of sticking his nose into places that it does not belong. I’m not sure he ever read the job description that goes with ‘Attorney General.’ During this past week, there was an elderly patient at the main hospital in Helena, the capital, who had been diagnosed with COVID. She and her family were insistent that she be treated with Ivermectin and/or hydro chloroquine. The attending physicians refused, telling the patient and her family that those treatments were not approved for treating humans with COVID.
The family made some phone calls and three highly place public officials called the hospital and alleged threatened the doctors and the hospital if they did not provide the treatment requested by the patient and her family. The hospital and the doctors continued to refuse. Apparently, someone in this chain contacted the Attorney General who, in turn, sent a Montana State Highway Patrol trooper, to the hospital to ‘investigate.’ The hospital is within the city limits of Helena and, as such, is under the jurisdiction of the Helena police department. However, our intrepid Attorney General decided to bypass all of that and just use the power of his office to dispatch a state trooper.
It is a sad state of affairs when state politicians and, in particular the state’s Attorney General, see fit to interfere with and allegedly threaten a hospital and attending physicians to do something that is medically irresponsible and clearly unethical. This is the state we are now living in.
In a blog I wrote a few days ago, I explained how the Republican party which essentially ‘ran the table’ in the last election cycle, is wanting to set up a special committee to investigate election fraud – in the elections they all won!! The clear objective is to find areas of alleged fraud so they can put laws in place to move control of future elections under the control of the partisan legislature through one mechanism or another. The end result if this committee is ever formed and unleashed will be to ensure it is almost impossible for any Democratic candidate to win a state wide office in Montana again.
Most of this ‘red tide’ won’t directly affect me. Don’t forget that a ‘red tide’ is a real thing in the marine world and is toxic: “Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when colonies of algae—simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater—grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds”.2 Pretty scenery, good hiking and great skiing aren’t really sufficient to entice me to put up with all of this. I’m thinking I need to be somewhere ‘bluer’ or perhaps in another country altogether. I’ve never really lived on the East Coast and places like Maine look inviting. Who knows? However, after losing most of the last two years because of COVID, I’ve decided that 2022 will be a year of exploring ‘possibilities’. Montana, ‘The Last Best Place,’ is rapidly becoming ‘The Least Best Place’. In short, life is too short to put up with this bullshit!
I’ve been regularly checking apartments for rent and keeping an eye on the very north of Maine myself – very similar – I like the mountains but yikes – I was considering Wyoming near Jellystone, and other places where I simply could not be around such people.
Downside to Maine – winter – the snow depth is impressive. I think I’d be ok with the cold – very cold – but would need to position myself within a small town walking distance to supplies – like food !! Rural Maine maybe the same as rural Ca – red – some I better do due diligence. .