LETTER: Republicans need to get their act together

Ah... It seems the wing of the Republican Party locally is leaning on their heel. They have intelligent, moderate and even conservative vocal opposition. This is a good thing.

Our job as active citizens is to challenge our politicians, especially if they seem to have turned to the ridiculous in order to promote their principles. I think most of us want smart, effective people in office. People who can hash things out and get things done.

At least the misplaced lawsuit against tribal ownership of what was Kerr Dam was dropped. Most likely the attorney they were dealing with got well paid for time spent. It seems now water over the dam, money spent. It’s probable they’re casting harsh criticism on “liberal” judges. Perhaps that attorney was of questionable leanings and they fell for it.

One hears from them a seemingly endless blaming of someone or something. That is not constructive. Making villains to gain political support is a tried and true tactic. Think of the leaders who have used it in the past. And the results.

Before the court now is the question of a closed primary election. It will be ruled on as a matter of written law. Among other things, what the wing of party wants is to disenfranchise independents. Voters who on principle refuse to register with one party or another. They are well aware voter turnout in primaries is low. This weighs favor to the party activists’ position, not necessarily the position of the general electorate who vote for party in the general election.

I’m not sure what the percentage of independent voters in Montana is, but nationally it’s around 30 percent. A huge factor. You can argue that all have right to vote. In reality that doesn’t happen especially in the primaries. They know this.

So I and lots of others would be disenfranchised, being independent, preferring to vote for whom we consider the best candidate, standing on principle, refusing to be forced to choose party affiliation. (They seem to admire a principled stand. They tout it on a seemingly endless basis. Only if it suits their purposes). Then they take out a large part of their party which doesn’t vote in primaries.   

Stacking the deck is a common political trick. Me... I think if these kinds of people actually gain real power, watch out. I also think the very effective previous mayor of Kalispell, Tammi Fisher, was spot on in her letter. —James How, Kalispell