Letters to the editor July 22
Time for a change
Since President Joe Biden took office, more than 7 million migrants have entered our country illegally through our southern border (a number greater than the population of 36 individual states).
They had 290,178 associated charges and convictions (an average of four per individual). These included 33,209 assaults, 4,390 sexual assaults, 7,520 weapons offenses, 1,713 charges or convictions for homicide, and 1,655 kidnapping offenses. The southern border crisis is also costing American taxpayers around $451 billion per year for services provided.
Next, Biden canceled the Keystone pipeline. Gasoline prices rose from $2.25 per gallon up to $5 per gallon by mid-2022. With the OPEC+ decision to reduce supply further, I believe gasoline prices are now headed toward $4.50 per gallon. Next, Biden decided to shrink our emergency strategic petroleum reserve (to the lowest in 40 years).
In response to my letter to Sen. Jon Tester on this, Tester replied: “I pushed the administration to release oil from the strategic petroleum reserve”.
Biden’s $69 billion loan “forgiveness” package continues to grow, even after the Supreme Court ruled against it. In 2021 our interest rates were 2.6%, in 2024 the interest rate is 3.8%. Inflation was 1.4% when Biden took office, and now it is 3%. And food prices have surged more than 21% since the start of 2021.
And of course, we all remember the horrible withdrawal from Afghanistan. Every step of the way, Montana’s Sen. Jon Tester has supported Biden’s failed polices and decisions (94%).
It is time for a change. Decorated veteran and job creating entrepreneur Tim Sheehy represents that change for Montana in D.C..
— Steve White, Bozeman
Project 2025 road map
Paper maps are passe. Or are they? The Heritage Foundation, under head Kevin Roberts, produced a 920-page road map outlining a radical agenda for Christian nationalism. Far from “conservative,” it calls for the dismantling of our institutions by the mass firing of civil servants, replaced by MAGA loyalists; placing the Justice Department under the president’s direct control; and finalizing the hard-right dream of an aggressive expansion in presidential power.
This map would lead us to the imposition of anti-women’s health care policies. It specifies a crackdown on reproductive rights, including rescinding approval of mifepristone, criminalizing the mailing of abortion drugs, and allowing employers to decline contraception coverage, a la “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Anti-immigrant policies written up in Project 2025’s manifesto include massive cutbacks in legal immigration, sweeping immigration raids, the loss of a legal shield for 500,000 Dreamers, the repeal of birthright citizenship, and vast military-built detention camps. Remember kids in cages, separated from their parents?
Other draconian proposals include axing some “green” environmental policies, such as the IRA, which supports clean energy transition; shuttering offices working on climate science and renewable energy; slashing more corporate taxes; privatizing Social Security; relaxing the Endangered Species Act; and enlarging oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, a la “drill, baby drill.”
Most of these initiatives are deeply unpopular. The majority of Americans disagree with Heritage’s Roberts, who sees Hungary (Viktor Orban) as “THE model for conservative statecraft.” Is it a “Christian value” to undermine democratic institutions and norms? To control the election system and the courts? To oppose LGBTQ rights and legal immigration? To prevent Europe from becoming a “mixed race?”
Harvard political scientist Theda Skocpol said Project 2025 is “full prep for an authoritarian takeover.” Please inform yourself. And vote.
— Nancy Teggeman, Polson