Standing Ovation
This weekend I was so honored to be invited to be the keynote speaker for this gathering of Democratic candidates and their supporters. A crowd of about 80 people showed up we we got to hear all three of the Democratic candidates for US Senate—Reilly Neill, Michael Black Wolf, and Alani Bankhead.
I gave a brief speech about public service, and I hate to brag (okay, that’s not true, I like to brag), but I was very surprised to get a standing ovation. I don’t think anyone recorded it, so I thought it might be worth sharing here.
So, well put. Thank you. I am currently re-watching "The West Wing," and the notion of Pluralism came up as the staff were hunkered down with high school students discussing terrorism and politics as the White House was on lock-down. The push and pull of ideas is what makes democracy work. I loved your telling your audience, reminding all of us how at the Montana Constitutional Convention of 1972 it was decided that they would sit alphabetically. What a splendid notion. And just how any member of the current Republican party can say that it isn't still one of the finest documents created in this country blows my mind. I knew some of those people and I know that it was the cause of pluralism that wove that document together and still serves us well. We will have to fight to keep it because of the narrow-minded forces pushing us into the one idea, theirs.
Bravo! You hit it out of the park. My Dad volunteered as an Election Judge in Carter County for years. He was a Democrat. He had a strong sense of Civic Duty. My eldest sister ran for Clerk of the District Court in Carter County as a Republican, because as she knew, a Democrat would never get elected there. She won the seat. At that time, the Parties were not so polarized and far apart. You did a great job of explaining why the animus happened. It would be wonderful to return to the pre dark money times. I find it disheartening to have election outcomes predicted by the total monies raised and spent on candidates, rather than their ideas and qualifications. I think that’s how we end up with Senators and Representatives who really don’t have anything to offer working people. Anyway, you deserved the standing ovation. Well done.