I walked up the driveway and reached into the mailbox. There it was. The mail that I’ve been waiting on for the past couple of years, since the world turned to chaos, arrived.
I pulled out the ballot and held onto it like money. Life had gotten so expensive over the past few years that change is the only option. No working guy can afford to live in Montana under these kinds of price increases. And the yes-men who’ve been running politics don’t care.
I’m voting for Minnie Mouse and will hand-deliver my choice to the Whitefish City Hall where a ballot box has been established to avoid postal complications. I foolishly anticipate that if the ballot reaches the secure location sooner, the moneyed bullies of the election will leave us alone.
I chuckle, knowing this is untrue. Miserably, bullies will bully until the very end, and then blame everyone for their own foolishness long after the votes are counted and scores settled. If you desire a kinder and gentler world, do as I do and fill out your ballot and vote for change.
What an ugly election season this year has been. The D.C. insiders and tech billionaires are dumping unlimited play money into the local consultant-world expecting results. Who knows, maybe big money wins again, as cash does the talking and makes people into instant celebrities.
A Democratic-controlled political action committee from D.C. spent millions of dollars promoting a Democratic candidate in the primary election only to immediately backtrack once she decisively won and then weirdly declared that the woman cannot win come November.
Suddenly, another Democratic political group from D.C. then spent millions more of someone’s dollars to say ugly and untruthful things about her and then weirdly pivoted to support the opposition. Democratic consultants spent millions to prop up, then millions to tear down.
Of course, and on schedule, the Republican-controlled political team from D.C. joined the fray and dumped millions of their dark, dirty money into Montana. It’s a game to the big-money interest, but for the rest of us it’s real life and expensive living over the past decade.
Those out-of-staters dumped so much money into this election, making up lies and half-truths, that the ordinary voter will feel rather disenfranchised. It’s ugly stuff and the Montanans involved in this big-money gambit should be ashamed. They’re not, rather laughing all the way to the bank.
The political establishment is lost, awash in dirty money. They no longer care for the everyday Montanan. We’re on our own and I’ve voted like it matters, like it’s the last real election ever. Certainly, the most important election of my lifetime. I realize that dad and grandma had tougher days but they seemed stronger to me.
Yet, I still believe that Minnie is the right person, full of grace and ambition, and will steer this ship called America back to port. We’ve been lost at sea for so long that sending another Mickey to fix the mess of the last Mickey won’t produce change or make life less expensive. As everyone knows, Minnie is used to cleaning up Mickey’s mess.
During my years in Helena, I saw politics and elected officials up close. I’ve come to the sad realization that power does corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely, just like the adage reminds us. Our daily drama is playing out on the statewide stage. The theater is real, not funny.
To fix it, do like I did. Fill out the ballot and get it to the election office as fast as possible. The mailers won’t stop, the commercials will continue, and those weird phone calls from God only knows where will keep ringing. But once the ballot is complete, you become the observer.
The tech-bro billionaires and political bullies will keep pestering and insisting that only they know what’s right. They’re wrong. But it won’t matter. You voted. Your civic duty done.
So, I voted for Minnie Mouse. Big money bullied her, locals made up lies about her, and loudmouths insisted that the only female running in a statewide political race should drop out. That’s nutty. Everyone knows the women are smarter. Just open the ears and listen to politics.
Anyone who knows Minnie recognizes that she’s fiercely independent, sensible and level-headed. She’s feisty and strong-willed. She may have started as a flapper girl but quickly learned to fly. Today most of us like Minnie because she’s humane and optimistic. And Minnie gets stuff done.
Any politician who’s kind and forward-looking in today’s world deserves support. I realize you may disagree and vote for Goofy or Pluto. And that’s exactly how democracy works. Yet most everyone will agree that in today’s expensive economy, the nation and state need change.
If you think that Montana needs fewer yes-men or bootlickers in power, then you have a civic duty to return your ballot and vote for the person best suited to make living just a little bit easier and a whole lot less expensive. Putting in the same team to clean up the mess that they themselves made is pointless. Only change and accountability produce freedom.
The column you read is true. The names were changed to protect the innocent, and to spare me from more nasty comments from the big-money bullies of politics. I believe in you, and as Sgt. Joe Friday said on Dragnet, “All we want are the facts, ma’am.”