This is exactly why I left Washington 31+ years ago. I was a logger cutting Timber, fishing steelhead and Salmon on the river and a hunter. Every time I turned around they were trying to take something away whether it was the spotted owl, spiking trees sabotaging equipment to telling me my boat was scaring the eagles to the deer, elk and fish runs being decimated and everytime i tried to get people to do something it was ' oh there ain't nothing you can do about it" so I said F it!
Came to Montana in 89 took me 2 years to talk my wife into it, best thing I ever did for my wife and me and my kids.
My oldest Daughter graduated college in 2002 decided she wanted to go back ibtold her its not what you think it is like when you were young she made it 6 months and came back.
It's not that you can't do anything about it because the minority of people have changed America forever in the past 20 years for sure , they did something.... It's the fact most people are to lazy or it doesn't effect them till it's to late etc... A friend of mine told me years ago , people won't do anything as long as they can drive their suburban , afford their McDonald's as long as the problem isn't knocking on their door and even then alot of them will only get off the couch long enough to close the curtains so they can't see what's out there thinking there , it's gone....
Let's face it , most Americans are lazy and the system is designed to keep them that way , the great toilet paper shortage during covid should have taught people how much we actually live on the ragged edge here in America , things aren't as plentiful as it is made out to be... People now think if you work at McDonald's you should be able to have a new car , a house and family of four.... There's no reason to try to advance and that would be way to hard to try... If you do try and have any success then it's called privilege not hard work and determination... Words created to make people feel better about why they are failures... It's way easier to fall in line.... When everyone has a collage education that degree is no different than a high school diploma was back in our time.... When you spend that kind of money to get that degree and don't understand the word LOAN when your signing it , well there you go....
I applaud you for getting up and moving to Montana , that's called taking charge of your life and making the changes to make your life better... Change is a very scary thing and most People don't have the balls to do it..
But by making a decision and sticking to it is called being an adult. Sometimes they work out great , sometimes not so much... BUT you make a decision and stick with it and don't look back adapt and overcome...
Right now I am in the middle of a move back down south away from Austin Texas because I can't stand the smell anymore , my wife and myself just retired and don't want to go because everything we own is paid for , were both in our 50s , not spring chickens etc and we worked the last 15 years to retire here 40 miles outside Austin but with Elon and Tesla moving in , the tax rate going up 300% since 2011 we figure one day they will tax us out of our home if we are on a fixed income... They have already for so many...
Scary to move now after I swore I would never move again , two heart attacks are going to make it even harder , sure but a change has to be made now... Sitting on the couch with those curtains closed isn't going to work... Sooo back down south we are a going where the taxes are half , where I can sell out here and buy the same amount of land or more and the Austin liberal and their morals and way of life or lack of doesn't exist...
Good luck to you sir , you made a decision and stuck to it and your life is better for it now... I hope mine works out the same way , you weigh the good against the bad and make decisions in life.... Tomorrow my new storage building arrives so I can get some of these boxes out of my house and keep deep cleaning and maybe finish so I can get the house on the market one day , another scary thing but it's the next step.. I am in no rush to throw my life up in the air I finally got everything just the way I like it , my neighbors are pissed at me for leaving , there's actually been tears because they are scared of what might move in and I don't blame them , good neighbors are hard to find... It's a damn mess , but for my family it's a necessity that must be done sooner or later.... I love my neighbors and they love me but for us it's time to make a change before we get eaten up here and time isn't on our side they unfortunately don't understand that....
