“Government doesn’t do anything efficiently” is a slogan I often hear and good golly miss molly somebody better hold me back. Do you know why cities have parks, pools, police, fire departments, sidewalks, street lights, libraries & clean water? Hint: not private business. /1 Local governments provide basic infrastructure extremely efficiently and economically. Parks, police, fire, public transport, garbage, roads, clean water. Local governments are nonprofits that charge residents what it costs to provide these services, no more. /2

PSA: #mtleg literally made it against the law for local communities to do anything about COVID. If we pass a local mask mandate the state will strip our city's public funding and/or sue. It's an absolute nightmare. The only person who can take action right now is the governor. City Councils aren't discussing mask mandates for this reason—not because we don't care. Our cities can't function (water, sewer, roads, transit) without state $$, which was the whole point of writing this threat into law. #mtnews #mtpol

I've got a story to tell you about Montana local government, which is that for SOME REASON a significant number of people believe cities should be able to operate on the same budget year after year, while simultaneously calling on government to act more like a business. /1 Please tell me which businesses freeze employee salaries for years on end. Which businesses don’t have to deal with inflation? Businesses regularly raise prices to cover inflation, but when government does the same we're vilified as politicians out to "raise people's taxes." /2

Hardworking Montanas will be able to buy, like, one cup of coffee. Gee thanks so much. Goodbye universal pre-k, railroads, mental health funding, teacher raises, etc. This is what we traded for a single cup of coffee.

The millionaires are sure happy though! Phew!

https://twitter.com/MTGOP/status/1397292602974605317

I'm basing this off of the expectation that a family at $50,000 should receive back about $16. For a single individual making minimum wage I'd assume they're getting $5 at best. That's 1/6th of Yellowstone County.

I don't think anyone outside the US realizes just how bad our country's COVID response has been. You've seen our horrific death rates. But these are just the tip of a very brutal, very deep iceberg. /1 The US doesn't have universal healthcare or childcare and most of us are not in unions. The federal minimum wage has been frozen at $7.25/hour for 12 years. Approx. 1 in 6 kids lived in poverty BEFORE the pandemic. It's only gotten worse. /2

cbsnews.com/news/child-hun…

Smart, capable, experienced people are NOT running for public office in the US. If you’re watching the madness of our elections from the outside and wonder how we got the cult trying to illegally keep Trump in office, this is how. A thread. /1 First, running for local office is expensive, time-consuming, and pays terribly. If you need a job to support your family, and don’t have a partner to support you, public life below the federal level will be extremely challenging. /2