I buy a couple of beers for the cowboy and he Answers every question I can think to ask about cowboy life over the next couple of hours. It is a nice conversation.
Having exhausted my cowboy questions, I ask A question designed to elicit his views on gun control. Yes, he has a semi automatic weapon. It’s great for shooting coyotes. Coyotes kill calves.
So, I ask, under Montana’s open carry law could he walk into a movie theater with that semi automatic weapon in plain sight?The bartender, who has been itching to interject, says loudly, yes and thank God for that!
With that the bartender abruptly walks away. But he cannot stay away for long. He returns to add an important proviso. A Private property owner can prohibit semi automatic weapons or other guns on his property. As it should be. Private property rights Trump gun rights.
He would rather have a gun with him and hope he never has to use it than not have one and need one. I get it. That’s how I think about the bicycle tire pump and spare tubes I carry.
Having inserted himself into the conversation, the bartender takes over. He wants to talk. Not listen. Fine. I’m here to listen.
He had a daughter who just graduated from University of Montana at Missoula. Some of her professors will flunk students just because they are white. Really? Then who passes?I decide not to ask. Is University of Montana a liberal university? Yes, very much so.
His daughter returned to Winnett With some pretty warped views. It didn’t take long to set her straight. When she got her first paycheck she was surprised to see how much had been deducted for taxes. Her dad explained where that money was going. Before you knew it she was back in the fold.
There are a lot of liberal Californians moving into Missoula and other places in western Montana. And they’re bringing their liberal culture with them to Montana.
The cowboy mentions that Michael Keaton has a ranch south of here near Yellowstone. They hunted from the same hunting lodge. Nice guy. They didn’t talk politics. He’s probably liberal, but not as liberal as most people in Hollywood.
There’s going to be another Civil War. and that everyone seems to agree. Really? Between Western Montana and the rest of the state? Never mind.
And those oilfield workers up in the Bakken formation are a bunch of criminals. A few of them came to town a couple weeks ago and were harassing the townspeople and taking drugs. They had to get the sheriff involved. He ran them out of town fast But not before arresting a couple of them who had outstanding warrants for their arrest.
As long as people work and don’t break any laws, the bartender has no problem with them no matter what color they are. Now Obama, he’s a racist. More to the point, there is an overabundance of people in this country who don’t want to work.
(Gulp) Fortunately, bicyclists seem to get a pass. It doesn’t seem to matter much what kind of work you do and bicycling, I guess, is work. Anyway, we are not talking about me.
There’s a guy right here in Winnett who has never worked a day in his life. All he does is sleep, sit around all day, and eat. He now weighs close to 400 pounds and gets more money in government handouts than many of the people in Winnett who work.
Elderly people and people who cannot work? We take care of our own. We always do. What exactly does that mean? Never mind.
The lecture then flows into the subject of criminals, another Area in which there is an overabundance of people. There seems to be a great deal of respect for the local sheriff. Unlike most taxes, that is tax money well spent. The sheriff does a good job of deciding who should get a gun and who should not. And he and his deputies fight crime.
A lot of the crimes Are being committed in this country by Muslims. Do I have any idea what the Koran says? Freedom of religion is not thriving here.
The bartender is not a Republican. He’s a conservative. Of the 500 residents of petroleum County, only 13 to 15 are liberals.
The lecture is winding down. The Cowboy speaks again.
He’s all about freedom, and that means that on the abortion issue he is pro choice. Sounds to me like he’s a libertarian, but I keep that to myself.
He’d like to ride a horse across the country. never going to happen. Would probably take three horses. A horse can only make about 20 or 25 miles in a day.
I later learn that there are some speculators buying up mineral rights in petroleum county. If oil prices get to $80 a barrel, there is money to be made there. There seems to be a consensus that many of the local residents like Winnett just the way it is.
My takeaway. Even in the information age, people are still very much products of their immediate environment. What is best for Chicago is probably not best for Winnett. Maybe we should repeal the Second Amendment and make it a states rights issue.
Oh, and the older gentleman sitting on my other side. Turns out he is one of the most knowledgeable authorities on the Lewis and Clark expedition in Montana I have ever met.
I have very much enjoyed my evening in Winnett!
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