By Rick Borden, Hamilton
To all federal and state Republican elected officials and our state Republican chairman,
The majority of you profess to being Christian, through your words, displays, and apparel. How proud you must be of your fellow Montanans who show their true patriotism using the shield of First Amendment rights.
Living in the Republican bastion of Ravalli County, I get to see many examples of this first-hand. Here are some I frequently observe: Let’s begin with flags – Trump – No More Bulls**t, Let’s Go Brandon, F*** Biden flowing from the back of pickups with, of course, an American flag proudly flying next to it and perhaps, for good measure, a confederate flag or the “Don’t Tread on Me”. And my favorite, hanging from an upper balcony deck on a house on Golf Course Road – F-American flag- American flag-K on the top line and Biden directly below on the second line. Or how about the window stickers and bumper stickers and t-shirts with these patriotic messages: F**k Biden, Let’s Go Brandon, or this one, FJB.
What wonderful examples to set for our kids and grandkids, isn’t it super that our youth as young as first or second grade can read and get to experience these “patriotic” ideas and messages?
I don’t want to be accused of being unfair though, so if you patriots have proof of similar derogatory paraphernalia being used against Republicans, then the same holds true for Democratic officials who look the other way.
Barbara Christiansen says
This rhetoric, while I don’t agree with it, represents the anger and frustration of a large group of people toward policies that are hurting this country. The rhetoric began, as I remember, with Hillary Clinton calling conservatives who favored Donald Trump, ‘deplorables. The behavior continued with the disrespect and accusations thrown out against the elected president and the tearing up of his SOTU address by none other than the speaker of the house. The pink disgusting hats of the ‘Me Too’ movement, Baby Trump Balloons and vicious attacks against his supporters by paid BLM and Antifa activists.
Linda schmitt says
Restoring sanity, civility and responsibility seem worthy goals. Thank you, Rick and Gary, for your statements.
Gary Milner says
I agree with the sentiments of this letter. These are not the “Christian” or “patriotic” or even “conservative” values I grew up learning about. Nor are they the “family values” I admire. I’ve wondered how a parent justifies this, while at the same time teaching and modeling family values. Republican leaders (especially the ones who represent MT) are not going to speak up because the behavior is now normalized and most importantly it gets them votes. To me, it’s a shame we’ve sunk this low as a nation; we as a people are better than this.