A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

20 August 2016

Political parties in the Flathead fair parade

There will be three presidential candidates on Montana’s general election ballot, and possibly a fourth. The three certain candidates are Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and Libertarian Gary Johnson. The possible fourth, according to Montana’s Secretary of State, is “Rocky” Roque De La Fuente. Efforts to collect enough signatures to qualify the Green Party’s Jill Stein for the ballot failed. Update, 22 August: The Green Party claims it collected enough signatures to place Stein on Montana’s ballot.

In yesterday’s county fair parade in Kalispell, the first big parade after the 2016 political conventions, Libertarian Gary Johnson had the biggest sign and fewest marchers. Johnson might do well in Montana as he provides a choice for Republicans who won’t vote for Trump and crumple on the fainting couch as the mere thought of voting for Hillary Clinton.

Near the end of the parade rolled the right wing wagon of the John Birch Society, which becomes more alive the longer William F. Buckley is dead.

libertarians

Mike Fellows, Libertarian candidate for the U.S. House of Representative, is in the car behind the banner.


dems_sign_wagon

Hillary Clinton has abandoned Montana — it has only three electoral votes, and is one of the whitest states in the nation — but Montana’s Democrats have not abandoned Hillary.


gop_land_access

That’s Montana auditor candidate Matt Rosendale orthogonal to the parade’s vector. Matt Regier, candidate for House District 4, carries one end of the lands access banner, while an unknown (to me) Trumper lugs the other. In the world of Republicans, access to public lands usually means access not just for hunting and four-wheeling, but also for sawing down trees, shoveling coal, drilling for oil and gas, and digging for gold.


john_birch_society

Here’s the throwback to the cold war. I’m surprised there wasn’t an Impeach John Roberts sign on the wagon.