No headline

Tester now works for D.C. Democrats

I think Jon Tester has changed from working for America to working for Chuck Schumer. His chance for being elected another term is growing slim. Like other Democrats he cannot think for himself anymore. He is so brainwashed or hypnotized that he doesn’t have the sense to represent us any longer.

We do not need anymore brainwashed or hypnotized senators in Washington. Tester’s vote against Gorsuch was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I did vote for Tester before but never again for a Democrat. —Kay Snipes, Columbia Falls

Single payer is only solution for health care

Donald Trump says that health care is extremely complicated. Health care is not complicated; it is very simple. You get sick, you go to the doctor, you get fixed and everything is OK. Oh, my mistake. That is how it is in every other industrialized country on earth. In America we are inflicted with a parasite, and the parasite is complicated. That parasite is called the health-insurance industry.

All we have to do is kill the parasite and health care is simple. It is called “ single payer.” How do we pay for it? We have a payroll tax on everybody’s income. Whoa! We are taxed enough already, right, and minimum-wage people certainly can’t pay any more. We simply raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. That will ultimately raise everyone’s wages, and more than offset the payroll tax. The American people are long overdue for a raise.

Health-insurance premiums are nothing more than a tax that we pay with after tax money. Double dipping. If we get rid of health insurance the cost of health care immediately goes down 25 percent. That is the profit margin allowed by the Affordable Care Act. Doctors and hospital costs go down because they are not dealing with insurance companies. Insurance companies don’t do one thing to make us healthier; they are just handling the money. We can do it better. Businesses large and small would no longer have to provide health insurance. The insurance premiums employers are paying now will have to be paid to employees as higher wages. That will more than offset the payroll tax.

Republicans’ heads will explode at the thought of a new government program. All government is supposed to do is make sure the rich get richer. They will howl about the government interfering in our health care. Of course insurance executives that decide who lives or dies by denying insurance coverage are not interfering with our health care. No more personal bankruptcies from medical bills, no more people dying because they can’t afford medical care, no more 20 percent co-pays, no more high deductibles. Everybody pays and everybody plays. The Affordable Care Act can’t be fixed. You can’t fix a parasite — you have to kill it, and replace it with “single payer.”

Then the United States can join the rest of the civilized world by providing health care to all of its citizens. —Tom Shaughnessy, Kalispell

Forest-project legislation is welcome change

Sen. Jon Tester has introduced the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act in Congress. This piece of legislation is the result of a decade-long collaborative effort amongst local timber interests, conservationists, snowmobilers, mountain bikers and wilderness advocates. The Stewardship Ac will protect the headwaters of the Blackfoot River by designating 80,000 acres of new wilderness in the Scapegoat, Mission Mountain and Bob Marshall Wilderness Areas. In addition to protecting critical fisheries and wildlife habitat, the act will open 2,000 acres of new snowmobile terrain via the Otatsy Recreation Area and enhance backcountry mountain biking opportunities in the Seeley-Ovando area. Sounds like a monumental bill, right? With all the talk of tweets, vacations and supposed wiretaps, you’d be forgiven if you didn’t hear the news.

While the national media and D.C. politicians are bogged down in fleeting controversies, Montanans are busy working on forward thinking solutions to land management issues. The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act responsibly balances diverse user group and business interests with permanent protections to critical habitat for fish and wildlife. Arriving at this agreement was not easy. It took 12 years of discussion and cooperation between Montanans from different walks of life.

Progress does not come in the form of one administration undoing the achievements of the last. It comes from taking the time to build consensus and do it right the first time.

If you’re tired of the dysfunction and disaster narrative, tune into what’s going on in your own backyard. The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act, as well as the Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition which is working to build the same consensus toward responsible public land management and end a pattern of stifling litigation, embody the values of democracy and our great state. Contact your delegation and let them know you support these collaborative efforts and all they stand for. —Sonny Mazzullo, Whitefish

Tax ‘reform’?

Yes, being the president is hard work, but for plutocrats there are fun times too. For instance, you are able to submit to your friends in the Congress a tax plan that would be nicely helpful to yourself. Economist Dean Baker explains that the president’s proposal to limit the alternative minimum tax and cut taxes on income received through pass-through corporations “could net him hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade.” So it is not surprising that a plutocrat in far-off Montana would buy nasty TV ads to get himself in on the fun. That the governing of the people by the plutocrats and for the plutocrats will continue. —Robert O’Neil, Kalispell