Arts & Entertainment
The New West: House shifts, but will Democrats ever gain traction in rural West?
Published
5 years agoon
Posted By
Outlaw PartnersBy Todd Wilkinson EBS Environmental Columnist
And just like that, everything in America changed, while, in reality, nothing did.
Democrats taking control of the U.S. House now means official scrutiny and oversight will come to the Trump administration in ways it hasn’t existed before.
While the congressional shift will result in hearings on a wide range of topics, it dramatically changes the one-sided guise of public policy in the American West—in particular prolific anti-conservation policies involving federal public lands, environmental laws and bureaucratic directives.
Make no doubt, with President Donald Trump in the White House and Montana’s embattled Ryan Zinke as his Interior Secretary—and with the GOP’s hold on the Senate deeper than before—the push to treat the West as a 21st-century natural resource colony for fossil fuel companies, above most other considerations, will continue.
But what hasn’t happened since the Trump presidency began in 2017 is a significant check on controversial actions coming down the pike that met little legislative resistance or scrutiny because Republicans held all of the cards.
Now, with Democrats commanding the House, and having committee chairmanships enabling them to decide what hearings will be held and who can testify at them, the consequences of attacks on the country’s longstanding conservation traditions will get full airing.
The era of having a loyal opposition has re-begun. Still, the reality is that in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—the tri-state region of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, where every incumbent GOP congressperson won re-election—fact-based rhetoric will remain a problem.
U.S. Reps. Greg Gianforte of Montana, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, and Mike Simpson of Idaho will continue to deny human-caused climate change and make a push to resurrect the dismal fortunes of the coal industry.
They will join Zinke in opening up public lands to increased oil and gas drilling at the expense of wildlife habitat, clean air and water concerns. They will carry on with their thinly veiled positions, consistent with the GOP’s official party platform, of hoping to transfer management of some federal lands over to states. They will delight in advancing efforts to undermine landmark laws such as the Wilderness Act, Endangered Species Act and full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Yet now they must contend with Democrats summoning a battery of scientists, public policy experts and others whose voices have been absent or muted. This will result in another dynamic: with Democrats in the House offering a counter-narrative to the GOP’s anti-science positions, perhaps now U.S. Reps. Gianforte and Cheney will be forced to stop fleeing from the media and the public they serve, refusing to hold live town hall meetings or answer questions from real journalists. To date, both have only listened to partisan constituents and special-interest industries that told them what they wanted to hear or who contributed to their re-elections.
This, after all, was the same charge leveled by Tea Partiers in 2010 who claimed Democrats weren’t listening. Yet here are a couple of fascinating anecdotes that put the rural West within a larger context: Democrats nationwide cumulatively won the popular vote and, secondly, they claimed a higher percentage of the plurality than Tea Party candidates did eight years ago.
What it means is that by remaining obstinate, remaining entrenched in anti-science rhetoric, they position their states to remain stuck in a 19th-century natural resource exploitation—frontier mentality that will only continue to leave Montana, Wyoming and Idaho falling further behind. All three are struggling to create truly sustainable economies and prepare young people to thrive in the future.
At the same time, the national Democratic Party needs to stop treating the rural West as a sacrifice zone—a throwaway—and cease making specious excuses every time their candidates lose.
Gianforte and those in charge of running his campaign were relentless in falsely portraying his challenger Kathleen Williams of Bozeman as a “Nancy Pelosi Democrat.” Pelosi’s name is radioactive in the rural West, so is that of U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.
As smart as Pelosi and Schumer might be and as rooted as they are in the Democrat’s bi-coastal identify, so long as they remain the party’s figureheads, Democrats are going to lose in the rural West because both Pelosi and Schumer seem clueless in understanding what’s on the minds and in the struggles of rural people everywhere.
While the rural West isn’t where the big vote pools are, the center of the country, including the heartland and Midwest, hold the values with which a huge percentage of Americans still culturally identify.
Kathleen Williams may have lost her congressional bid but someone as charismatic as her—she is a progressive who also hunts, fishes and has professional experience working with ranchers and farmers— should be considered to lead the Democratic National Committee. And, she is capable of firmly pushing back rhetorically.
Until Democrats begin to take personal responsibility for why their party message isn’t resonating, and so long as they are merely a coalition of disparate single-issue interests—and not a party of compelling common values—they may win the popular vote, but in the rural West they will continue to be perceived as being grossly out of touch with reality.
Todd Wilkinson is founder of Bozeman-based Mountain Journal (mountainjournal.org) and a correspondent for National Geographic. He also is author of “Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek” about famous Jackson Hole grizzly bear 399 featuring 150 photographs by Tom Mangelsen, available only at mangelsen.com/grizzly.
The Outlaw Partners is a creative marketing, media and events company based in Big Sky, Montana.
Upcoming Events
april, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before 9/10/2024:
more
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before
9/10/2024: Kindergarten
enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year can be completed by following the
registration process now.
Children
born on or after September 11, 2019: 4K enrollment is now open for
families that have a 4-year-old they would like to enroll in our program for
the 2023-2024 school year. Please complete the 4K Interest Form to
express your interest. Completing this form does not guarantee enrollment into
the 4K program. Enrollment is capped at twenty 4-year-olds currently
residing within Big Sky School District boundary full time and will be
determined by birth date in calendar order of those born on or after September
11, 2018. Interest form closes on May 30th.
Enrollment now is critical for fall preparations. Thank you!
Time
February 26 (Monday) - April 21 (Sunday)
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm We will combine the heart-opening powers of cacao with the transcendental powers of breathwork and sound. Together, these practices will give us the opportunity for a deep
more
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm
Time
March 23 (Saturday) 6:00 pm - April 23 (Tuesday) 8:00 pm
Location
Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a
more
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a limited palette to create different color combinations? Are you tired of carrying around 15-20 different tubes when you paint plein air? Have you ever wanted to create a certain “mood” in a painting but failed? Do you create a lot of mud? Do you struggle to achieve color harmony? All these problems are addressed in John’s workbook in clear and concise language!
Based on the bestselling “Limited Palatte, Unlimited Color” workbook written by John Pototschnik, the workshop is run by Maggie Shane and Annie McCoy, accomplished landscape (acrylic) and plein air (oil) artists,exhibitors at the Big Sky Artists’ Studio & Gallery and members of the Big Sky Artists Collective.
Each student will receive a copy of “Limited Palette, Unlimited Color” to keep and take home to continue your limited palette journey. We will show you how to use the color wheel and mix your own clean mixtures to successfully create a mood for your paintings.
Each day, we will create a different limited palette color chart and paint a version of a simple landscape using John’s directives. You will then be able to go home and paint more schemes using the book for guidance.
Workshop is open to painters (oil or acrylic) of any level although students must have some basic knowledge of the medium he or she uses. Students will be provided the book ($92 value), color wheel, value scale and canvas papers to complete the daily exercises.
Sundays, April 14, 21 and 28, 2024
Noon until 6PM.
$170.
Time
14 (Sunday) 12:00 pm - 28 (Sunday) 6:00 pm
Event Details
Come join us at Cowboy Coffee as we celebrate a fun night of drinks, games, and meeting others within the community. This event is from 6-8 and all are welcome
Event Details
Come join us at Cowboy Coffee as we celebrate a fun night of drinks, games, and meeting others within the community. This event is from 6-8 and all are welcome to come, if you don’t know who to bring come alone this is a great mixer event! This is an event hosted by Big Sky OUT as we work to provide queer safe spaces throughout the community.
Time
(Sunday) 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location
Cowboy Coffee
25 Town Center Ave. Big Sky, MT 59716