Now that Matt Rosendale has comfortably settled into his second term representing those of us in eastern Montana, giving western Montana over to Ryan Zinke again, it’s time for the 43 percent of us who didn’t vote for him to have an opportunity to examine his stewardship of our interests in the House of Representatives.
Some credit the maxim, “A man is known by the company he keeps,” to the ancient sage Aesop. Proverbs 13:20 conveys the same lesson.
What company is Rosendale keeping nowadays?
He is proud to be a member of the group known as the 44-member House Freedom Caucus that includes Republican political firebrands Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert and Paul Gosar, a group fairly labeled as on the far right-wing of the political spectrum.
If you’re comfortable with Matt proudly aligning himself – and his representation of us – with this group, read on no further.
But if his association with this fantastical group concerns you, then please pay more attention as he collects the paycheck eastern Montana gives him. Some things to keep in mind:
- He seems to be afraid of meeting his constituents face-to-face unless it is a carefully controlled event or a friendly conservative radio talk show. His town hall events are controlled telephone call-ins with questions carefully screened and selected.
- Facebook and Twitter are his primary public voices for those who want or are able to engage social media. On the positive side, press releases from his office are on his official House website. Check ‘em out.
- His public pronouncements and actions reveal a person who sees the world only through a constricted prism of his own hard-set personal judgments. The interests and needs of eastern Montanans are wider and more diverse than his mindset.
- His effectiveness as a legislator can be questioned. According to the Montana Free Press, of the 26 bills that Rosendale has introduced as a congressman, none has received so much as a hearing.
- His need to castigate Democrats eclipses common sense, and often the truth. In mid-November he pinned diesel fuel shortages in Montana on “the Biden’s Administration’s failed policies” while ignoring (or being ignorant of) lingering global economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worldwide competition for energy.
Most concerning at this time, though, are his intractable and shallow positions toward U.S. support of Ukraine in its war with Russia and how the nation should deal with the immigration crisis along our southern border.
Many Montanans understand that Ukraine’s fight to repel Putin’s invasion is the frontline of resisting future Putin aggression in Europe. Rosendale, with a distinctly demonstrably limited world view, does not and resultantly is dangerous. He should avail himself of the recently released 2022 National Defense Strategy that points out the “acute threat posed by Russia, demonstrated most recently by Russia’s unprovoked further invasion of Ukraine.” (There’s also the unconscionable, monstrous civilian- targeting campaign being waged. Is he comfortable looking away?)
Of course, Americans should be aware of the cost of our support but in the over-the-top methodology of the Freedom Caucus, Rosendale has linked the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried to his support for a ridiculous Marjorie Taylor Greene resolution allotting the government a mere 14 days to provide the House with a humanly impossible amount of information.
Resolved, That the President is requested, and the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State are directed, to transmit, respectively, to the House of Representatives, not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution, copies of all documents, charts, or tables, including notes from meetings, audio recordings, records (including telephone and email records), correspondence, and other communications, and any financial statements detailing purchases, recipients, and government expenditures to the extent that any such one or more items are within the possession of the President or Secretaries aforementioned, respectively, and refer or relate to congressionally appropriated funds directed to the nation of Ukraine—whether in regard to military, civilian, or financial aid— between January 20, 2021 and November 15, 2022.
Finally, we need to see if Rosendale might work to understand the “why” of Central Americans fleeing their homelands. In smaller scale, the exodus has been underway since the late 1970s and early 1980s. It will take more than 30-foot barriers and more border guards to quell the flow.
I’ll be watching Congressman Rosendale over the next two years. I hope you will, too.
Published on The Perfect Enemy at https://bit.ly/3i2ZD9U.
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