How to NOT ruin Montana if you move here (prices, shop)

[Reziac]

Heh heh, looks like the Jeep gets to earn its keep in the winter

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by JeepVeteran

Well, I have a Jeep which is good since the weather up there gets snowy & I have anti-Obama bumper stickers, U.S. Army bumper stickers & I love politics but I don't usually bring it up until I know the politics of another person & if I know I can talk to them.

I don't drive(no driver's license or car), I have no anti-Obama sentiment(and I can be somewhat liberal on some things, depending on what they are), the army won't take me for health reasons. I wonder how I would fit in Montana.

[redhead]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

I don't drive(no driver's license or car), I have no anti-Obama sentiment(and I can be somewhat liberal on some things, depending on what they are), the army won't take me for health reasons. I wonder how I would fit in Montana.

just fine!!! this site is making montana sound like a high school clique!! please don't get the impression people are lined up at the border screening arrivals to determine if they meet all the criteria on their checklist. people here are not at all into peoples business. the small towns of course will be more leary but yet friendlier then what most people are use to. but you'll be surprised how polite and easy going people are here. so don't think you have to live like some people on the forum advocate. this is still america and we still have open state borders and you don't need a passport to move to montana! come do your own thing and enjoy the slow life.

[Rogdog]

Originally Posted by redhead

please don't get the impression people are lined up at the border screening arrivals to determine if they meet all the criteria on their checklist.

Ummmmm. I respectfully disagree.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Rogdog

Ummmmm. I respectfully disagree.

Why do you disagree? I travel back and forth from Wyoming to Montana on a regular basis and have never seen any crowds at the border.

[redhead]

funny funny funny

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

Why do you disagree? I travel back and forth from Wyoming to Montana on a regular basis and have never seen any crowds at the border.

That's cuz they see you coming, run and hide. Wouldn't you?

[Timberwolf232]

Originally Posted by expatvermonter

I read all these posts about bashing "outsiders" moving to Montana, and let me say I have first hand experience with people ruining my home state of VT. Here is how to NOT ruin things if you move from NY, NJ, MA, IL, CA to a rural state.

1) Refuse to pay $350K for that new 3 Br rancher. Tell the seller that it is only worth $120K and that is all you will pay. If you are willing (and can) pay overinflated prices you have just ruined the market for someone who can only afford a reasonable mortgage. Build simple, cheap and green. The locals will respect you for it (no McMansions).

2) Leave your "liberal" mentality in CA! This does not mean you have to like Bush or Rush. People in the rural areas generally don't want extreme left or right thinking/politics. They are mostly center of the road pro-constitution.

3) Don't get involved in politics. Let the state be run the way it has been. If you like right wing bible thumping move to Mississippi or Tennesse. If you like diversity (gang-bangers and hip hop) move to LA. If you like constitutional freedom move to ID, MT, VT. There are states that match your like and dislikes. It is a big country, but don't move to an area to change things.

4) Rural people own and carry handguns for self defense. If you don't like it stay in NY City where it is safe under Mayor Bloomberg. We don't want a police heavy state in Montana or Vermont!

5) Subarus, Volvos, Birkinstocks, North Face, Latte do not belong in rural areas. It is like wiping the greed and excesses in the faces of the locals. This does not mean you need to shop at Walmart for your fashions and wear a dirty cammo baseball hat. If you move here buy a utilitarian vehicle (Jeep, Small Pick-up Etc), get some new Carharts, a woodstove and live simply. Country does not mean being a redneck. Just dress down and be humble, not loud and pretentious. Save your cash for future emergencies. Greed is not welcome in the simple country lifestyle!

6) Don't blast hip-hop or wear your pants around your ankles. NO ONE here wants to hear it, believe me!

I agree with most of this post, but I'm beginning to understand that none of the folks moving here have the ability to understand the local culture, and just as history repeats itself, Montana is becoming "eastern arctic California" and they will keep coming and coming and building big box stores and every town will have the same franchise businesses and restaurants just like you see everywhere else.

It's already like that in the larger cities in Montana, and only getting worse as more refugees bring in their messed up kids that influence the farm kids to act like wannabe gang a$$es like you see in the larger areas of the country. The idiocity of the new "medicinal marijuana" laws have now attracted several well known national gangs that have been setting up grow operations around the state in order to sell product illegally in other areas.

This new legislature is in it for the $$, which is running out fast and as we will all find out, bad decisions can have a lasting impact. This means more work for law enforcement and first responders, wildland fire contractors (yes there are LOTS of fires started by idiot out of staters that just want to party in the woods) and other industries... the problem is that the "new" Montanan's tend to expect that the government provide these services and are way less likely to take an active role in helping out their own neighbors. This means an increase in taxes and rising cost of living in order to "cater" to the people moving here.

Crazy world we are living in these days isn't it?

[happiness is]

I'm sure the native Americans reading this can point out that things changed to cater to the new people who moved to Montana a long time ago.

I think generalities and stereotypes describing people who live here and people who move here are not helpful in understanding Montana. Life can be a self-fulfilling prophecy - focus on problems and that is all you will see.

I remember walking to piano lessons after school as a child in Helena. I would go down Jackson street to the back door of Sherman Music, where the piano lessons were taught. I would pass by the back window of a photo studio that had pictures of lynchings from the Vigilante days. Men in the photos would be posing next to the dead body they had just hanged. I'm glad I live in the Montana of today. It is helpful to think of things in a greater perspective, as every time will have its good and bad.

[Rickers]

Originally Posted by happiness is

focus on problems and that is all you will see.

It's hard not to be pissed off when you can't keep from seeing crap like this going to the local boat ramp for a nice day of fishing.
Look what some moron did to this Aspen Tree. They thought it was a Paper Birch and tried to cut off a panel.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_9a8nDInPVGE/TEvHv7YQW_I/AAAAAAAACL8/SNeSygq5ntE/s512/IMG_0765.JPG (broken link)