How Radical is Bozeman, Montana? Think Portland

"How radical is Bozeman, Montana? Possibly as radical as Portland, Oregon." 

That's what former State Rep. Tom Burnett (R-Bozeman) writes in the below open letter.

Open Letter from Tom Burnett

The established religion is Pride. The flag flies at City Hall. Crosswalk-pride-flag paintings are authorized. There’s a non-discrimination ordinance. Countless resources went into creating the Belonging in Bozeman document, a state-of-the-art diversity, equity, and inclusion action plan.

There was a BLM rally and march.

A city commissioner tried to defund the police. Instead, law enforcement funds were shifted to social work.

There are two Bozeman-based BLM groups: Bozeman United for Racial Justice, and Montana Racial Equity Project. They vie to outdo each other.

There’s an active chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. They meet weekly. They proposed a socialist public housing authority at the City Commission and County Commission.

The City Commission is being pushed to spend $670,000 on “tenant right-to-counsel” to stop evictions. Even Multnomah County, Oregon, the county encompassing Portland, rejected this kind of thing, and by a 82-18 margin.

The City of Bozeman has a Sustainability Program with a manager and a specialist. The Sustainability Plan calls for net clean energy by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. This applies to all citizens and households.

Bozeman Tenants United is adverse to property rights.

The Sunrise Movement has avid adherents and activists working in Bozeman on impractical green energy mandates and climate initiatives.

High school students pushing the Green New Deal have made outlandish demands of the board of the Bozeman School District. Their ardor got out of hand, resulting in them being banned from district administrative offices.

The school board has an equity advisory committee. Schools here teach global citizenship and how to address climate change.

The patriotic insignia displayed in Bozeman High School’s main office reception is three instances of the pride flag.

Gallatin Valley Beyond Plastics, a MontPIRG project, is gathering signatures for a Bozeman ban on single-use plastics. (I saw a grocery shopper eagerly sign the petition after shifting her plastic bag of groceries to her non-writing hand.)

City officials are permissive on urban camping, providing garbage and toilet services, and showing general forbearance.

The county and the city collaborated on a “sensitive lands study.” It could classify many properties as too sensitive for development and agriculture.

Bozeman Public Library did not have any of five conservative books I searched. These were The War on the West, The Strange Death of Europe, The Madness of Crowds, The Diversity Delusion, and Irreversible Damage. Other libraries in Montana cities I checked (except Butte) had some or all of them.

Supporters brought radical land-use professor Patrick Condon to town to disparage private property rights and to lecture about socialist housing policies.

Bozeman may rival Seattle and Portland in radical ideology. All we’re missing is courthouse  defacement and a CHAZ autonomous zone.

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