by William Skink

As the organizations that serve those who will be most impacted by Montana’s budget crisis get more details about how those cuts will be imposed, politician-wannabe Greg Strandberg is playing with the politics of resentment, as evidenced by this kind of rhetoric:

Maybe Democrats will wake up and realize that ‘me, me, me’ is how most Americans think. We live in the real world. We get up each day and go to work. We have little to show for it, and less to spread around. And when we mention this, Democrats belittle us.

Oh, how high and mighty they are.

In their own minds. We see our three branches of government – all GOP. Dems are great at complaining, but little else.

I’d say there are tens of thousands of Americans than have autistic children, and they’re able to take care of them. Same for aged relatives. These are responsible people – they made the right choices, were able to provide for themselves.

Greg Strandberg has no fucking clue what he is talking about. Medicaid programs that help disadvantaged kids, the disabled and elderly people who aren’t independently wealthy enough to afford the tens of thousands of dollars for long term care help more than just the people receiving services. Without these programs systems already over-burdened are going to become more expensive and less efficient. It will impact all of us.

Communities are interconnected, complex systems. I don’t expect a selfish douchebag trying to transform his petty resentments into a city council job to acknowledge that, but it’s true.

If hospitals fill up with elderly people because nursing homes stop taking Medicaid patients due to cuts, we will all experience the consequences of more expensive medical costs. That is just one example.

Greg Strandberg likes to complain about how politicians don’t make his life better. He complains about his low-wage, part-time jobs. I don’t know how he affords health insurance for his family if what he reports about his income is true.

And how about Mommy and Daddy in Helena? Are they ready for retirement? Does Greg Strandberg know Medicare doesn’t pay for long term care? Does he know how much services to keep aging adults in their home cost? Does he know that people don’t qualify for Medicaid if they have more than 2,000 in the bank? Or, if they make over $645 a month, does Greg Strandberg know that any income over that amount goes to the state? It’s called a “spend down” and it’s brutal, not just for the people who need those services, but for their families as well.

Greg Strandberg is using resentment because he saw it worked for Trump, so he’s trying it out to further his own political ambitions. And what are those ambitions? To help out Greg Strandberg, and fuck everyone else.

Well, I have a message for Greg Strandberg: fuck you too, pal.