The tragedy of sacrificing good public policy while seeking votes • Daily Montanan

Caught up in the swirling waves of a presidential election year, citizens rightly fear that much of what we see from candidates are actions aimed primarily at influencing voters. This is very different than formulating good, sound public policy that relies less on politicians or their Republican-Democrat battles and more on actually providing “the greatest good for the greatest number.”

There are plenty of examples right now, including some completely unusual, crazy moves that Texas is preparing to make “supporting the death penalty for abortion providers and patients.” What about dour Florida Governor Ron DeSantis requiring teachers to receive training in teaching students about Christian nationalism — despite the clear separation of Church and State in the Constitution?

Of course, here in the northern tier we can shake our heads and say, “Well, it’s the south and they haven’t been crazy for a long time.” But the unfortunate truth is that political expediency takes precedence over good public policy and is a common phenomenon across the country.

For example, here in Montana, our Congressional delegation continues to support the archaic and massively polluting Colstrip coal-fired power plant. Given that the cheapest energy available to Montanans comes from wind and solar power, in both cases it increases significantly, one might plausibly ask why our politicians continue to support dirty and expensive coal energy. The answer, of course, is that they think they will get some votes for “protecting” Montana jobs.

The same goes for the lumber industry, where suddenly the closure of Pyramid Lumber in Seeley Lake has become a key election-year issue. Except that’s not the case. As the mill owners explained, the real problem is finding housing for their workforce and the cost of modernizing (job-killing) automation – neither of which is going to change any time soon, no matter who you vote for.

Political expediency will soon become fully apparent because The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a halt to private grazing in National Wildlife Refuges and ranchers are already complaining about losing access to tens of thousands of acres of the CM Russell National Wildlife Refuge, while also arguing that cattle are essential to achieving some “management goals.”

What goes unmentioned is that we have plenty of wild buffalo in Yellowstone National Park that would love to go to a refuge rather than be shot or sent to slaughter once they cross the park’s invisible border. Doing so would fulfill the purpose for which the Refuge was created, solve the problem of what to do with roaming bison in Yellowstone, and meet any “management goals” supposedly achieved by grazing large ungulates.

But Montana politicians won’t do what’s right. Instead, in seeking votes, they are promising to reject a proposal that has undoubtedly been spearheaded by Democratic Senator Jon Tester since he is running to show that he is not subservient to the Biden administration, as has been the case previously on many issues that could have benefited Montana residents.

Similarly, Republican Senator Steve Daines had just decided to nominate Danny Jackson of Montana, an attorney for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, to become the first Native American federal judge. Why? For no credible reason, except perhaps to show how political expediency is so bipartisan. Who loses? Montanans who are currently without an extremely talented and experienced judicial candidate.

The closer you look, the more you see that political expediency crushes good public policy decisions. The more you find of them, the more disgusting it becomes, as the stupid fight between Republicans and Democrats increasingly ignores doing what’s right for their voters in favor of soliciting votes.