(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Read their actions, not their lips – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'November', 'Russell Rowland'] Date: 2023-11-07 It was the 1988 Republican National Convention where George Bush the elder uttered the line that he probably became most famous for, which was the simple declaration “Read my lips! No new taxes!” It was a clever line, of course, but what most people forget is that he didn’t keep that promise. Nor did he probably ever intend to keep it. But it’s just the kind of dramatic, bold statement people love to hear from their leaders. Especially when it comes to taxes and jobs. The Republican Party has mastered the art of putting out these catch phrases, especially aimed at their base, and sadly, it has been drummed into everyone’s heads for so long now that most of the public probably actually believes that Republican lawmakers are concerned about lowering their taxes, even though the evidence has not supported that for decades. In the past year, our legislature, led as we all know by now by a Republican supermajority, approved an increase in property taxes that is unprecedented in Montana. But of course our governor did the usual bait-and-switch that has also become part of the script, trying to appease us with a rebate that is far lower than the increase. They also gave a tax break to corporations, which has also become a standard chapter in their story. So will that money be trickling down to the consumers? Here’s one example of where it will not. Just last week our Public Service Commission approved an obscene rate hike for Northwestern Energy, an increase that Northwest Energy explained comes in part because they have to pay higher property taxes, and the cost for that must be passed to the consumer. Oh, and did I mention that the Public Service Commission, which is made up of five people, is currently all Republicans? And so it goes… I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m getting pretty punch drunk from these repeated blows to my checking account. And the worst thing about it is that I don’t see a lot of evidence that the party in charge has any grand plan to help out Montanans with this money. They sure didn’t rush to do that with the huge surplus Montana received from the government last year. And Gov. Greg Gianforte has still never offered any explanation. Because that’s the other thing that has become a standard part of their script. You would probably guess that the general public is just fine with the direction the party is taking us, but guess again. In a poll conducted by Middle Fork Strategies, a non-partisan Montana based advocacy group, showed that 50 percent of Montanans are unhappy with the direction the state is headed, compared to 46 in favor. The poll also showed that: 58 percent of Montanans believe the state’s schools are inadequately funded. 66 percent oppose tax dollars being reallocated from public schools to private and religious education. 61 percent of Montanans oppose Governor Greg Gianforte’s veto of Senate Bill 442, the Legislature’s bipartisan marijuana tax revenue bill. 74 percent of Montanans say the state’s housing crisis was not addressed well by the 2023 Montana Legislature. 86 percent support maintaining and protecting Montana’s successful Medicaid expansion program. So maybe we’re getting to a point where you can’t just clap a cowboy hat on your head, put an R next to your name, spout the same catch phrases we hear every day on Fox News, and win an election. This disease has spread nationwide, of course, and the most frustrating thing about it is that one refrain we hear over and over again is that we should be concentrating on helping Americans. But most of the talking points that Republicans are repeating these days seem to be much more interested in making life harder, especially for the working class. They are putting most of their efforts into making life miserable for the average American, and I’ve never quite understood how people don’t see that when we put so much energy into making life difficult for certain groups, there is less energy to help those who need it. It’s pretty simple math. Someone needs to come up with a catch phrase, I guess. And now, they don’t want to send money to Ukraine because “What about the people here at home?” Well I just learned this morning, thanks to a fabulous editorial by Jim Nelson, that there have been more Americans killed by gun violence in the past two years than there are Ukrainians who have been killed in that war. What about the people here at home indeed! I’m tired of reading their lips when, as is always the case, their actions, or lack of actions, speak so much louder than their words. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/11/07/read-their-actions-not-their-lips/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/