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Who Oversees Montana’s Pension Investments

• The Montana Board of Investments (BOI) manages the assets for MPERA and other state retirement systems.
• BOI uses external asset managers like BlackRock, Dimensional, Franklin Templeton, and Invesco to handle stock portfolios.

ESG Proxy Voting by Asset Managers

According to a 2024 report from the 1792 Exchange:

• BlackRock voted “for” pro-ESG proposals just 7% of the time.
• Dimensional: 5%
• Franklin Templeton: 51%
• Invesco: (data incomplete but included in the analysis)

This means that while some asset managers are largely avoiding ESG-related shareholder resolutions, others—like Franklin Templeton— are actively supporting them.

Lack of Transparency

• Montana does not publicly disclose its proxy voting records for directly owned securities.
• The 1792 Exchange had to obtain this data via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
• The report urges Montana to publish these records so pensioners can see how their money is being used in ESG-related votes.

Legislative Climate

• Montana has not passed sweeping anti-ESG legislation like Texas or Florida.
• However, a 2024 mid-year review shows a decline in ESG-related bills nationwide.

So, is Montana “doing the same” as Idaho? In some ways, yes:

• It uses external managers who vote on ESG issues.
• It lacks transparency in how those votes are cast. But unlike Idaho, Montana hasn’t made a public push to reform or restrict ESG involvement—yet.

Read the Article Here: Transparency in Proxy Voting

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A Bluff That Raises More Questions Than It Answers

When political candidates are confronted with uncomfortable questions, they generally have two choices: answer them or ignore them. But wannabe candidate Mary Horman has taken a third route — drafting a handwritten cease-and desist letter demanding critics stop talking about her.

The problem? A letter like this has no legal force. It isn’t signed by an attorney. It doesn’t cite any statutes or case law. It isn’t a court order. It’s simply a piece of paper — one that says far more about Horman’s state of mind than it does about her opponents

Read the complete Article: Wannabe HD 55 Candidate Mary Horman’s Handwritten Cease-and-Desist

A Closer Look at Billings and Montana’s Fiscal Future — Tony O’Donnell for City Council

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You might be wondering, why should I care about local elections? Don’t all the big issues get decided at the Montana legislature, in Congress, or the courts? And isn’t city government just about zoning, noise complaints, and stray animals?

Well, yes, local governments handle those things. But have you stopped to consider the incredible and sometimes outrageous policies passed by “insignificant” local boards—things like:

• Sanctuary city policies
• Defiance of ICE enforcement
• Red flag laws
• Special rights based on gender beliefs
• Mask mandates and quarantines
• Restrictions on gas-powered cars
• Confiscatory zoning regulations
• Firearms prohibitions
• Mandates for paper bags, paper straws,
smaller soda servings
• Defunding police
• Public housing and taxpayer-funded
benefits for undocumented immigrants
• Facial recognition technology
• “Smart city” initiatives tied to Agenda 21
• Traffic cameras
• Flying “gay pride” flags at city hall

If you’re okay with these policies, stop reading now. If not, keep reading—because these issues aren’t just abstract debates; they impact your wallet, your safety, and your community’s future.

Why Local Elections Matter

Young Americans are turning to false solutions for real problems

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A recent CATO Institute poll revealed that 62% of Americans under 30 hold a favorable view of socialism. For those raised on stories of socialism’s failures, this is no doubt alarming. But before we dismiss these young people as naive idealists educed by radical professors, we need to confront an uncomfortable truth: they’re responding rationally to an economy that has fundamentally broken its promises to them. I know because I lived it—and I grabbed that socialist rope myself.

When Hard Work and Bootstraps Isn’t Enough

I was raised in California’s agricultural belt with values that mirror what many Montanans still cherish: hard work, personal responsibility, faith, and family. I did everything I was supposed to do. I taught myself programming, moved to San Francisco, and worked for tech startups that promised to change the world. I was skilled, dedicated, and believed that competence and effort would be rewarded. Instead, I found myself laid off repeatedly as startups collapsed or pivoted. Each time, I’d land another position, only to watch the cycle repeat. It wasn’t that there wasn’t work to be done in tech—there was plenty. But I was increasingly competing with a global workforce of programmers who could be hired for pennies on the dollar compared to American wages. The very tech companies I worked for had lobbied for the H-1B visa programs that flooded the market with foreign workers willing to work for less.

My father experienced this betrayal even more directly. He retrained his replacement from India not once, but twice in different tech jobs. Even after persistent job searching and interviews, the economic reality ultimately pushed him into early retirement—forced out of an economy that views experienced American workers as expensive liabilities rather than valuable assets. COVID only accelerated this trend, making it acceptable— even preferable—for companies to hire remote workers from other countries.

By 2017, I’d had enough. I fled San Francisco for Montana and started freelancing, desperately trying to gain some control over my economic future. But the larger reality remained: where my grandfather’s generation could work for one company their whole lives with a pension, people my age—and even my father’s—face constant job insecurity, wage stagnation, and the need to constantly reinvent ourselves just to survive.

The data bears this out. About seven-in-ten Americans think young adults today have a harder time than their parents’ generation when it comes to saving for the future (72%), paying for college (71%) and buying a home (70%), according to a Pew Research Center survey. Research by Stanford economist Raj Chetty shows that 90% of children born in the 1940s earned more than their parents, while only half of those born in the 1980s have achieved the same. College costs have jumped 153% in 40 years, according to Bankrate. Home prices have gone from about twice the median income in 1960 to 3.5 times median income by 2019. The federal minimum wage has lost 46% of its purchasing power since its peak in 1968, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This isn’t about work ethic or character. This is about a fundamental economic restructuring that has left an entire generation worse off than their parents despite working harder and being more educated.

Read the complete Article: Why Young Americans Are Drinking from Broken Cisterns

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A recent Cato Institute/YouGov survey (March 2025) offers a striking insight into the political leanings of younger Americans. Among those aged 18–29, 62% view socialism favorably, while 34% even have a favorable view of communism. At the same time, less than half (49%) express a favorable view of capitalism.

These results challenge the conventional wisdom that Donald Trump’s support among younger voters in recent elections reflects a conservative shift in Millennials and Generation Z. Instead, the evidence points to something deeper: frustration with the status quo, anger at entrenched elites, and a desire to disrupt what many see as a failed system.

Read the Article: With 62% of Young Americans Favoring Socialism, Trump’s Populism Became the Right Kind of Protest Vote

Socialism’s Siren Call vs. Faith’s Living Waters

Young Americans Are Turning to False Solutions for Real Problems

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Introduction: A Tale of Two Paths

Introduction: A Tale of Two Paths In an era of economic uncertainty and cultural upheaval, young Americans (ages 18-39) are grappling with profound challenges that shape their political and spiritual outlooks. Recent polls reveal a startling trend: a majority of young voters express favorable views toward socialism, with a significant portion even open to communism, and many desire a socialist candidate in the 2028 presidential election. This shift is often attributed to economic frustrations like soaring housing costs, wage stagnation, and student debt—issues that feel like betrayals of the American Dream.

Yet, juxtaposed against this is a growing conservative revival, exemplified by figures like Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA. Kirk’s movement emphasizes a “turn to God” among youth, promoting Christian values, personal responsibility, and free-market principles as antidotes to despair. This revival has been credited with mobilizing young voters for Donald Trump in recent elections, including his 2024 victory, where 35% of young socialist leaning respondents admitted to voting for him despite their ideological preferences.

This document juxtaposes these two narratives—the rise of “communist youth” sympathies versus the conservative “turn to God” movement—to explore their implications for Trump’s electoral success and America’s future. At its core, it poses a critical question:

Will young Americans heed socialism’s and communism’s siren call, promising security but delivering dependence, or embrace the living waters of faith-driven conservatism that fosters true liberty and resilience?

Drawing from recent polls (Heartland/Rasmussen, Cato/YouGov) and personal testimonies, we examine why socialism and communism appeal to the disillusioned, how economic realities fuel this trend, and why a spiritual revival offers a compelling alternative.