Tell Legislature this isn’t what you signed up for

Tell Legislature this isn't what you signed up for

Editor:

As a taxpayer and voter in Hill County, I find it impossible to believe that the majority of voters in Montana are aware of the extreme ideas that are circulating in the Montana State Legislature at the present time.

We all live busy lives, and have many claims on our attention. Many people find politics boring, upsetting, and/or feel powerless regarding their ability to make a difference. It is natural for people to crave and seek solutions to problems that are satisfying and understandable.

Unfortunately, adopting easy solutions to difficult and complex problems often means that many factors have been ignored. We now have a group of legislators in Helena who are seeking these easy solutions to difficult problems. They want government to shrink, until it can be drowned in a bathtub. In the view of these individuals, this will eliminate the social, political and economic issues that we are struggling with in 2011.

To this end, they have reduced the budget for social services to the point that Montana will be losing half a billion dollars of federal match money. Apparently, in their eyes, children, single parents, the mentally ill, low-income people and the elderly are to blame for the ills our society is suffering. The fact that many of the members of the above mentioned groups possess little political power or influence, is a part of the lack of logic that characterizes this type of easy solution.

It's always easier to blame those who cannot fight back. I hope that those of you who feel that you cannot support this type of problem-solving will take the time to e-mail, call or write to your legislators to let them know that this isn't what you signed up for.

Help to protect our less-fortunate citizens, before it's too late.

Rachel Lopez, Missoula

Editor:

As a taxpayer and voter in Hill County, I find it impossible to believe that the majority of voters in Montana are aware of the extreme ideas that are circulating in the Montana State Legislature at the present time.

We all live busy lives, and have many claims on our attention. Many people find politics boring, upsetting, and/or feel powerless regarding their ability to make a difference. It is natural for people to crave and seek solutions to problems that are satisfying and understandable.

Unfortunately, adopting easy solutions to difficult and complex problems often means that many factors have been ignored. We now have a group of legislators in Helena who are seeking these easy solutions to difficult problems. They want government to shrink, until it can be drowned in a bathtub. In the view of these individuals, this will eliminate the social, political and economic issues that we are struggling with in 2011.

To this end, they have reduced the budget for social services to the point that Montana will be losing half a billion dollars of federal match money. Apparently, in their eyes, children, single parents, the mentally ill, low-income people and the elderly are to blame for the ills our society is suffering. The fact that many of the members of the above mentioned groups possess little political power or influence, is a part of the lack of logic that characterizes this type of easy solution.

It's always easier to blame those who cannot fight back. I hope that those of you who feel that you cannot support this type of problem-solving will take the time to e-mail, call or write to your legislators to let them know that this isn't what you signed up for.

Help to protect our less-fortunate citizens, before it's too late.

Rachel Lopez, Missoula