13 June 2016
Did Bernie’s national campaign undercut Montana’s grassroots?
Updated. It certainly looks that way. At Intelligent Discontent, Pete Talbot’s must read report on the Montana Democratic Convention held over the weekend contains this astonishing revelation:
I mentioned bizarre moments at the head of this piece. Here’s the other: after electing the regional delegates, there were three other seats to be selected: two at large and one PLEO (Party Leader and Elected Official). Our caucus nominated a list and then a call came from the national Bernie Sanders campaign. It edited the list down, which apparently it has the right to do, “to reward those most committed to the campaign and to ensure affirmative action.”
Which is exactly what we were planning to do but I guess national didn’t trust us. This is perhaps the most disturbing event I’ve encountered in the Sanders campaign.
I’m glad I wasn’t at the convention. Had I been there, I would have walked out in response to that high-handedness and returned to Kalispell (after popping an extra blood pressure pill).
Pete considers the meddling a mistake he hopes won’t be repeated, but not a deal-breaker when the big picture is considered. I’m less forgiving.
The Democratic Party still supports social insurance, progressive taxation, and labor — but it’s become an identity politics coalition organized around social issues such as access to abortion and affirmative action. Internally, the party has identity group quotas for gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, among others. If, for example, a county central committee chairperson is a woman, the vice-chairperson must be a man. Modern Democrats denigrate merit. I still consider myself a Democrat, but the Democratic Party I once knew now does the strange things Pete reports, and has become a stranger to me.
A list of Montana’s delegates to the national Democratic convention was published by the Great Falls Tribune.