Alani Bankhead should not back down and withdraw from the race for US Senate for Montana. And neither should Seth Bodnar. The state Democratic infighting now being confused as political campaigning rests most significantly on the shoulders (or flat-top?) of ex-Senator Tester who conspired to manufacture this chaos for us. The truth is, neither Seth Bodnar nor Alani Bankhead are likely to win the Senate seat, despite it being a wonderful year for Democrats to end the statewide shutouts they’ve suffered of late. The reason is not the candidates, per se, but rather the political context within which they must operate — the political ground has been salted by the cynicism of Tester’s establishment and abandoned by the state Democratic Party who has learned only to duck under fire. All politics are national now but the state Democratic Party has done diddly-squat to compete with the Republican Party’s authoritarian and paternalistic messaging.
If the Democratic label is poison in Montana, as Tester says it is, then it is only because those responsible for presenting a forward-facing positive, reality-based message have failed to present a counterpoint to the Republican Party’s own neurosis-infused narratives. Good Lord — the GOP has gone from hyperventilating about the imminent imposition of Shariah Law on Montana citizens (no connection to reality there) to last session’s onanistic squealing regarding their make-believe crisis of transgender youth mutilation. And all the while the state Democratic Party, its establishment and its elders, doesn’t seem able to ridicule the ridiculous Republicans’ spittle-flecked insanities and instead just lets them pass by, one-by-one, until the narrative is forfeit.
Of course Alani should run, as should Seth. And, of course both will lose handsomely, and will lose even if the other drops out. But one only need look to the state Democratic establishment and its inability to step outside their own self-pitying rationalizations if one wants to understand why — until the Montana Democratic Party decides to cast off the victim role and step up to destiny’s fight like they mean it, we will all be stuck with these endless distractions manufactured by those whose only goal is self-inflation. And the result will be that the 99% of us who don’t run the game will continue to fall further behind, unable to reach the receding outline of our potential.
The Republicans are bankrupting this country financially, morally, and politically — the state Democratic Party has to someday begin to act as if it gives a damn.
Steve Moore
Kalispell