Have we lost sight of what is important?

As I read the editorials and ads written by incumbents that take credit for something they did not do, or by their opponents who assail them for something that they did do, I wonder if we have lost sight of what's really important?

What's important to me is that it's hard for working families to make a living here. It's not from lack of jobs, but rather from the lack of good-paying jobs. The fact of the matter is we live in a state where small-business owners are saddled with a tax on equipment, high workers-compensation rates, and are penalized for investing in capital improvements.

Our families struggle to pay basic bills, face high housing costs, and pay one-third of their income on average to health costs. Many of the children of long-time residences have simply left Montana for better opportunities elsewhere. Unless you have a trust fund, working families cannot continue to rely on service-based industries and a dwindling manufacturing base to provide the jobs necessary to live here.

Simply put, what is important to the Flathead is to create incentives for small businesses to provide good-paying jobs, ensure that we have an educational pipeline that provides the skills necessary to compete in future markets, and have a forward-looking conservation and growth plan that protects our heritage.

Good jobs start with good companies. Good companies are started by creating incentives for investment and having opportunity for growth. We need to stop penalizing small-business investment by eliminating the equipment tax and providing tax incentives for companies to pay better wages, offer health benefits and keep the job growth in Montana.

We need to target jobs that pay 25-45 dollars an hour. That's right, that's how much it takes for a family to make a decent living here. To those who say bringing good companies here is a pipe-dream, Montana Coffee Traders, NEXGEN and Total Label are examples.

These are innovative companies that offer good-paying jobs with benefits despite having to pay high taxes on a broken workers-compensation program and being penalized for buying new equipment. Ask any of these growing businesses how much more they would give in wages and benefits if they paid less in taxes.

The Montana education system is tough on both young teachers and students alike. While a starting teacher's salary may be better now than when my grandmother was teaching during the Great Depression, I remember her saying that she had the benefit of being supplied all the firewood she could use.

Seriously, we need to put the money in the classroom where it belongs. Education, like buying new equipment for a business, it is an investment, not an expense. However, we need to target spending rather than simply throwing more money at the problem.

Of the 40 or so straight "A" students from Flathead High School last year, less than a handful decided to stay in Montana. The fact is that our greatest assets are leaving. Given that it's tough to find a good job here, let's at least provide an incentive for our graduates to stay and help improve our economy. Providing no-interest loans and debt-forgiveness programs for those who stay in Montana is a start. Good jobs and quality education go hand-in-hand — we need both.

Lastly, we need common-sense conservation that looks to the future. The reason most of us have chosen to live in the Flathead is our commitment to community and the natural beauty that surrounds us. Teddy Roosevelt had the vision to look out a hundred years with our National Park system and public lands.

We need to do the same. We need a forward-looking plan that takes into consideration all the aspects of growth, such as wildlife corridors, watersheds, public access and resource development. A growth plan that changes before the ink dries is really not much of a plan and is a recipe for disaster.

What's important? That would be up to you to decide in November, but one should be wary of those whose only answer is to launch negative campaign ads. The use of such tactics distracts from what is really important — jobs, education and common-sense conservation for the future of our working families.

Ryan Zinke, of Whitefish, is the Republican candidate for Senate District 2.