Author: Fritz Pettyjohn

That’s what it will come down to in Helena on Tuesday.  We’ll lose at least eight votes to the Birchers, and for every one over eight we’ll need a Democrat.  Politics is arithmetic; it’s not rocket science.  If we lose 15 Republicans we’ll need seven Democrats.  We should get Zac Perry of Hungry Horse.  For him it’s not only a good vote; it’s a smart vote.  There must be other Zac Perrys, who would be helping themselves politically with this vote.  I don’t know if we can count on Ellie Hill and Andrew Person.  They’re from Missoula, where a no vote might not hurt them, and their yeas in Judiciary don’t guarantee one on the floor.

Actually, I am counting on Ellie Hill.  I don’t think her vote in Judiciary was cast lightly. She knew exactly what she was doing.  Among other things, she was sticking it to the John Birch Society, a plague on the politics of Montana.  I bet that vote felt good.  I remember making a few like that.

If you’re a Montana Democrat like Ellie Hill, what do you think of the John Birch Society, in purely political terms?  They’re such crackpots they give the Republican Party a bad name, which may help Democrats.  But purging their influence from the Republican Party moves it toward the center, making it easier for Democrats to find common ground.

This is stretching it a bit, but the Birchers are to the Republicans what the Communists were to the Democrats.  Not just an embarrassment, but a very bad influence.

I never ran into a communist in my political career.  If I had, I wouldn’t have laid off him because he was bad for the Democrats.  Democrats are Americans.

Communists are not.

I don’t know if Sen. Jeff Monroe of Pierre has ever read it.  Right now he might find it useful.  He voted for our bill earlier in the week, and is being overwhelmed by the reaction of the West River Whacko Birds.  According to Hal Wick, it’s a name they wear proudly.  They’re the Eagle Forum, John Birch hard right  from the west side of the Missouri.

Senator Monroe knows what’s right.  His vote wasn’t an accident.  And his vote will be the deciding one this Tuesday.  After over 30 years Hal got his bill through the House.  Now he’s one vote, Jeff Monroe’s vote, away from Senate passage, and South Dakota as the 25th state.

Will he do what’s right, again?

It’s a little disconcerting to meet them.  They look and act like normal people.  They speak good English, and are able to read, and write.  In terms of IQ I’m sure there are a number of them above 100.  They can even be personable, off subject.

As Matthew Monforton testified, what they have is not a legal theory, it’s a conspiracy theory.  Which begs the question  — why are they so enthralled with conspiracies?  I’m sure books have been written on the subject, but I think it really boils down to simple ignorance.  They see things they don’t understand, can’t explain.  There have to be reasons for the world to be the way it is, and they just don’t have a clue.  So when they are offered a conspiracy as an explanation they find it satisfying, and take pride in knowing what others don’t.  The poor, simple souls are energized by the special knowledge that they, and few others, share.

My problem is I get angry with them, and it doesn’t do any good.  It’s like getting angry at an infant who drops a rattle.  They really don’t know any better.  But when they give you that little smirk, a signal of their superior knowledge, it’s hard to remain calm.  Getting angry doesn’t solve anything, doesn’t help in any way.

I’m working on it.

Tuesday’s vote in the South Dakota Senate now looks iffy.  South Dakota is divided politically by the Missouri River.  West River is where the whackos live, and they’re up in arms.  Sen. Monroe from Pierre is feeling the heat from them, and he’s wavering.  He’s our 18th vote, and if we lose him we’ll have to try again next year.  Sen. Ernie Otten is carrying the bill in the Senate, and between him and Hal will do all they can.  The quality of the Senate floor debate apparently was not the best.  Loren Enns and others are preparing talking points for the floor Tuesday.

Tuesday’s vote in the Montana House is anybody’s guess.  The Tuesday vote in the North Dakota House looks like a lock.  For some reason there don’t seem to be a lot of crazy people in North Dakota.

We’re up in a South Carolina Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday, and Sen. Lee Bright from Spartanburg is wavering.  He knows what he should do.  The Campaign for Liberty, a Ron Paul offshoot, is spouting the same old stuff, and the calls he’s getting have him concerned.  These people are so deluded that they actually believe that the 2nd Amendment would be in danger at an Amendment Convention.  It’s ignorance, pure and simple.  Sad to say, these people are dumber than stumps.  Talking about the law and political reality to them is like trying to explain an internal combustion engine to a Neanderthal.  It just doesn’t work.  Charleston County Republican Party Chair John Steinberger will tape the robocall into his district.  He sounds like he’s from South Carolina, which I think is important.  We also have a shot at Democratic Sen. Thomas McIlveen .  Gov. Kasich will be in Columbia Wednesday and Thursday.  Sen. Grooms, our sponsor, may get a continuance of the hearing if Bright would benefit from a chat with Kasich.

Dr. Coburn will be addressing the Oklahoma Republican Caucus on the 23rd.  Sponsor Rep. Gary Banz has the bill in House Rules on the 25th.  Kasich will talk to Coburn next week.  We’re still not sure if Coburn understands the difference between our bill and CoS.  I think it’s fair to say that no one has more respect in the Oklahoma Legislature than Dr. Tom Coburn, for good reason.  If they won’t listen to him, they won’t listen to anybody.

So, a busy week.  If we do wind up losing South Dakota it’s not the end of the world.  Next year we’ll have even more momentum than we have now, and we can give it another go.

Not so in Montana.

Three Democrats got us out of committee.  We’ll probably need more on the floor vote, Monday or Tuesday.

As I’ve said repeatedly on this blog, we may get Democrats, but not as the deciding votes.  Oops.  I wander around the woods in the evening drinking beer, and thinking deep thoughts.  Some of them are better than others.  That was not a good one.  I don’t think we get there without Montana.  And we won’t get Montana without Democrats.

I guess my perspective was skewed by my experience in Salt Lake, where the D’s wouldn’t give me the time of day.

The Birchers did it for us.  Ellie Hill, from Missoula, is the leader of the three, and the sponsor of campaign finance reform through Article V.  I’ve known a lot of legislators over the course of my life.  There are good Democrats and bad Republicans.  She’s a good Democrat, and a good American, who is just disgusted with the corruption of our politics by obscene amounts of money.  Most Americans agree with her, so she’s got a shot.  One of my better deep thoughts is that no Article V movement can succeed without supermajority support in both parties.  She’s got that, I believe.  As does the BBA.

So Ellie has studied Article V, and read Natelson, and knows full well that it poses absolutely no danger to the Constitution, that it is, in fact, critical to the design of the Constitution.  It gives us a way around a corrupt Congress.  And so these crazy ass Birchers come filing in to Judiciary spouting the most absurd bullshit imaginable.  And it’s killing our bill.  She sees it happening.

And it pissed her off.