Montanans deserve a leader who will fight for them

If you’re frustrated by the direction we’re headed in as a country, you’re not alone.

Right now, a small handful of the richest and most powerful people are rigging the system against the rest of us. Montana deserves a representative in Washington who fights for the people who live here — not billionaires, corporate interests or political insiders. That’s why I’m running for Congress. 

Our state has a rich history of fixing problems like this. Montana tossed out the Copper Kings a century ago. This is a state that has given us chances and made people better. 

But the folks we have in office now are attacking all of that. Just like those Copper Kings, they care only about the super-wealthy and huge corporations, and they think they can distract us with made-up culture wars and manufactured hatred.

We feel their handiwork in the insanely high housing prices. We feel the unnecessary pain at the gas pump and in the loss of access to public lands. We feel it in our worsening healthcare crisis and in the frightening threats posed by industrial data centers owned by the richest people in the history of the world.

I know this can seem overwhelming, but we need to remember that none of it is happening by accident. We are in this boat because the people who were supposed to represent us are instead representing corporations that profit from this mess.

The hopeful news is that we don’t have to accept any of it; all we have to do is decide to send better people to D.C. to represent us.

There is much to be done, including demanding that everyone have access to at least the same quality of healthcare that members of Congress receive. Montanans are right to cry out for a federal moratorium on data center construction. We don’t have to accept the giveaway of our public lands to huge mining corporations or billionaire vacation clubs. We don’t have to accept foreign wars that drive up gas prices or rampant corruption that diverts money away from things we need.

We can make these changes, but to get them done, we have to elect different people. I’m dedicated to once again making Montana the state that kicks out corruption and fights for the people and places that make this the Last Best Place. I would be honored to have your vote.

Ryan Busse is a Democratic candidate for western Montana’s U.S. House seat. He lives in Kalispell.