Now that local elections are over, our communities can get busy governing and keeping town safe and prosperous. Maybe your candidates won, maybe they didn’t. Either way, Montanans have a fundamental duty to serve all of the people living in town, not just the ones whose ideology we may agree with the most. Listening and paying attention is key.
Remember who you work for, was what an old-timer told me when I was but a yearling lawmaker in Helena. I was spitting fire after a fellow lawmaker shoved a policy that was bad for hometown people.
I cooled off, and after absorbing the old-timer’s advice I rarely lost sight of the people back in my hometown who had sent me to work on their behalf. A town lifted me up, much like it now has, just days earlier, as voters selected the next generation of city leaders.
These are times built for kindness and leadership. Our communities are great and we deserve people representing us who care about the direction of our places. The constant back and forth bickering echoing throughout national politics is exhausting and only serves the status quo lobbyists fishing the hallways of Congress.
Places like Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish have good leaders at the helm to help steer the city toward prosperity and safety. It’s time the tri-cities of the valley tackle the plague that leaves many workers unable to live in town. Not only is the housing situation morally bankrupt, it also hamstrings local small businesses already struggling to attract and retain much needed employees.
At their prudence, cities have tools like urban renewal districts and one-time federal funds to help shrink the worker gap created by a housing market run amok. For all the blathering ideology of a free market creating more workforce housing, it has yet to deliver over many decades in our low-regulation, freedom-loving valley.
Kind leadership should remain the focus of the political game. It’s quite tough out there in the real world. Anyone who tells you otherwise is fortunate. Most of us still work for a living, day in and day out. Never mind that stress created by a pandemic still raging in northern states like Montana, or the anxiety of sending kids to school these days.
Enough with the political tantrums, the bullying of leaders just because we didn’t get our way. I realize we’re accustomed to things like fast internet, cheap gas and all the luxury afforded to us as Americans. Yet life remains complicated for many. Share some compassion with fellow humans and give everyone a break from the selfish behavior and barrage of yelling. It doesn’t serve community well.
We’re in this together, one for all and all for one. Our community is chock-full of newcomers and old-timers sharing the same time in place. It’s a part of who we are, always have been. The Flathead is a great place to call home. We choose to live here because we love our towns, landscape and the people, we consider family.
Get involved and make good stuff happen. Look around at all the goodness others have built over time and help contribute to make the future better. None of the public amenities in town, throughout the valley, and across the state occurred without the people making it happen.
It’s time we get out of our ideological heads and back to work with our hands to build more community and assure our valley remains a livable place to raise kids and succeed. Our danger remains in the inability to see others as human. We’re all just people. Be kind, work it out by listening, talking, and compromise. It’s not easy, but you’ll like what the future holds.