Legislation by coalition is nothing new

The recently adjourned session of the state Legislature was characterized in both House and Senate by compromise and coalition. Democrats and Republicans teamed up to pass key pieces of legislation which largely resulted from negotiations between Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, and the few remaining traditional legislative Republicans.

Coalitions are common in Montana and in legislative bodies the world around. Coalitions are not new, but what has developed in Montana is a new coalition.

I remember many years ago visiting with Leonard Plank, who had served in the Legislature from Chester in the 1920s and ’30s. The Democrats won a huge victory in the 1932 election, and Plank was confident he and his fellow liberals would be in a position to enact major reforms. It didn’t happen, and according to Plank the reason it didn’t was because a coalition of moderate Democrats and Republicans, directed by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, successfully maligned the liberals as radicals, and killed every reform.

The status quo is hard to overthrow because established ideas and interests are always threatened by change. In Congress, beginning in the 1940s, and for decades to follow, a coalition of conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats effectively opposed civil rights measures and legislation backed by labor unions. The old Anaconda coalition in Montana maintained its hold for much of the same time period. “The Company” strategy was to keep a low profile, controlling conservatively and carefully. The joke was that the ACM always went along with reform as long as it didn’t change anything.

When I first came to the Legislature in the 1970s, the senior member was Democrat Sen. Dave Manning from Hysham who ultimately served for over 50 years. I was eager to meet him to learn from his historical perspective. One of the first things he told me in describing the Legislature was, “It’s a coalition, Bob; it’s always been a coalition.” Manning was a moderate. He was a part of the enduring Republican/moderate-Democrat coalition that Plank had railed against going back to 1933 when he and Manning served together.

The 1970s was a brief progressive interlude in state politics. Manning probably didn’t realize it at the time, but the old coalition he described was dying before his eyes with the adoption of a new progressive state Constitution and other reforms not to the liking of the weakening corporate old guard. Pragmatic problem-solver Govs. Ted Schwinden and Marc Racicot shaped the next two decades in Montana politics, leading wisely and well, in my opinion.

Now we are seeing the rise of a new more ideological Republican Party, determined to bring about great and fundamental change. Government involvement, from social programs to the farm program, has become deeply woven into the fabric of our national culture. The libertarian, “constitutionalist,” and religious-based ideas that have come to dominate modern Republican thinking are incompatible with the long established socio-economic safety net that is now inherent in our way of life.

 A political party that attempts to impose radical change that people aren’t ready for will not succeed. A party that must force “group think” on its members to carry out its purposes cannot survive.  

Coalitions form and end for a reason. Republicans can eliminate the reason for their division either by becoming a more in-touch and inclusive party, or a purer, smaller party. If they start down the purification path, it will continually become narrower, and it will lead to Democratic majorities. Then, if they learn from the example of the Republicans, Democrats may not have as great a challenge managing a majority.

Brown, of Whitefish, is a former Montana secretary of state and state Senate president.