Dear HCN,
Ray Ring got it mostly
right with his dissertation on the relationship of Montana
environmentalists with “other” Montanans (HCN, 12/17/01: Bad moon
rising). He really nailed it when he got past the “easy” answers
and into “rural-thinking, rooted to an immense landscape, and every
once in a while rebelling against domination by external
forces.”
After all, most Greens are funded by
out-of-state, tax-sheltered foundations that are, by any stretch,
elitist social engineers. Nobody likes being engineered, especially
if they have their own plans.
Here in the
Flathead, there’s a “Citizens” group that just celebrated its 10th
year, but the fact remains that its exec is an out-of-state lawyer,
and half of its budget came from the Bullitt Foundation in (gag)
Seattle. That might explain why our “planning” boards are being
dynamited and dismantled. If this group was truly operating on a
level playing field, supported locally both politically and
fiscally, the story might be different.
But it
isn’t. Until Greens actually have a stake in the health of their
“community,” either through their wages, or land ownership (not
conservation easements), or whatever, they will in fact be separate
from the community and therefore not able to participate except
through coercion, manipulation and litigation.
Dave Skinner
Whitefish,
Montana
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Montana Greens need local roots.
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