COMMENTARY / SATIRE. This is a fictional open letter, not a letter sent to the White House.
By Steven Bullcoming Haworth | Truth in Focus
Dear Mr. President,
I have a question. Actually, I have several. I live in rural Montana, where a trip to town is not always a quick errand and winter tends to show up whether your bank account is ready or not.
Can someone explain why the gas tank, the grocery cart, the power bill, and the tuition bill have all decided to compete for the same dollar? I am trying to get an education, keep the house warm, and contribute something useful to my community. Apparently, the furnace has decided it deserves a cabinet position, because it takes up the entire household budget.
I hear a lot about the economy. I hear about tariffs, negotiations, investment, and promises that life will be more affordable. Those are important policy debates, but out here we have a more immediate question: when will a working or studying household actually notice relief?
When prices rise, it doesn’t matter whether someone calls the increase strategy, a correction, or a temporary adjustment. My utility company does not accept economic theories as payment. Neither does the gas station.
And while we’re talking about schools, what happens when rural communities need qualified teachers but the people preparing to serve those communities are struggling with tuition, transportation, and the cost of living? An investment in education ought to make it easier to stay and teach, not harder to make it through the month.
I don’t expect any president to fix every bill by breakfast. I do expect public officials to explain the trade-offs honestly, show the evidence behind their promises, and measure success by what happens in ordinary households — not just by the applause at a podium.
So here’s my proposal: next time somebody says a policy is helping families, send them to a rural kitchen table, hand them a calculator, and ask them to make the monthly numbers work. If they succeed, I’d love their recipe. Mine keeps coming out as leftovers.
Respectfully,
Steven Bullcoming Haworth
One Montana resident who has discovered that the furnace does not take executive orders.
Editor’s note: “Dear Mr. President” is a satirical opinion feature. It expresses the author’s views and should not be read as independently verified reporting about a particular policy’s current economic effects.