Imagine my surprise when I opened my email this morning and found a letter addressed, not to me, but to the Chairman of the State GOP from obviously disgruntled “Republicans”. It was probably a bad idea to open this message before the coffee had finished brewing, but I wasn’t fully functional when I clicked on the envelope. Poor Roland and Annie – guess they didn’t know they’d be tap dancing on my last nerve.

They start out by announcing that they are DONE contributing to the Republican Party. Done, I tell you, done! DONE, DONE, DONE.

Well, whoop-de-doo. According to Follow the Money, they haven’t exactly been fiscal pillars of the organization, having contributed a whopping $120 so far this century to the Montana Republican Party. Now we all understand that no organization can afford to alienate donors, and any loss hurts, but golly, gee, when you’re making threats, you ought to take into account how significant a loss you may be inflicting if you want to be taken seriously. In this case, I think the party can recover nicely.

However, since our correspondents weren’t finished with their rant, I will continue with mine…

They next assert that their disaffection is due to the party’s failure to attain their standards of ideological purity and offers as proof the party’s support for Rick Hill over Ken Miller, and the legislature’s failure to pass some of their favorite bills, including SB167 – Greg Hinkle’s bill to prohibit assisted suicide, HB 516 – Kris Hanson’s discriminatory anti-gay rights bill, and various anti-abortion bills. They go on to disparage Denny Rehberg, Rick Hill (again) and for good measure take a swipe at Jim Shockley because they just aren’t conservative enough, and then finish up with a rousing slam at “RINO’s” in general as they wrap themselves in the flag, the Constitution, and “conservative values”.

Let’s set the record straight: The Republican Party hasn’t endorsed or supported any candidate for governor. The fact that Rick Hill seems to be the frontrunner is because more PEOPLE support him!!! Even though Miller has been running months longer than Rick, he’s only raised about a third of what Rick raised in half the time. Montanans know both Ken and Rick and the jury’s back – Rick’s a winner, Ken’s a loser – and a sore one at that. Ken’s juvenile temper tantrum after the 2004 primary is one of the main reasons that Brian Schweitzer is sitting in the governor’s office right now. So, Roland and Annie, when you get yourself all wee-weed up over what bills did or did not pass the legislature, just remember that “Republicans” didn’t have a veto-proof majority in the Senate and we didn’t even have a RINO at the east end of the capitol. Fighting to pass a bill without bipartisan support is generally an exercise in futility unless the guy with the veto brand is at least willing to listen to you. So when a “member of the Senate leadership” told you that a certain bill or group of bills “didn’t poll well”, it wasn’t an acknowledgement of either his or the Party’s support or lack thereof – it’s an acceptance of a political reality. By the time you’re dealing with a bill in the legislature, ideology is a concept that is no longer useful – it doesn’t matter how avidly you support an issue or a bill – if you can’t get it through the legislative and the executive branches, it won’t become law. Period. End of story. The 2011 Legislature spent thousands and thousands of dollars giving your issues fair hearings and due consideration. Don’t blame the legislators or the Republican Party because your issues didn’t haven’t enough support to carry the day. They didn’t fail – you did! You couldn’t, or didn’t, generate enough support from the citizens of this state to carry the day. That is not the fault of the Republican Party.

Let’s discuss this whole ideology thing a bit more. Just because our friends Roland and Annie think they have all the right answers, it doesn’t give them (or anybody else for that matter) the ability to impose their will on the rest of us unless they can get a majority of the voters to agree. Which brings us to those pro-life bills that they are so passionate about. God love ’em. I agree, the right to life is a fundamental cornerstone of our republic – and the platform of the Republican Party at all levels. But the fact of the matter is the leaders of the RTL movement have failed to persuade the majority of the voters in Montana that the anti-abortion and anti-assisted suicide laws they support are best for the state. I submit it’s not for lack of dedication, fervor, or commitment, but just that a majority of Montanans don’t agree with Roland and Annie’s positions on those issues. If you don’t have the support of a majority of the voters, expecting the legislature to pass your agenda is not only naive but literally, unAmerican. It’s that whole “majority rules” thingy that you were taught in grade school. Like it or not kids – your position on abortion is not shared by most of your fellow Montanans.

So what is Roland and Annie’s response when the issues and bills they deem ideologically right and proper fail? Do they re-evaluate their own strategies and double-down on their efforts to change public opinion? Nope. They throw their own temper tantrums and threaten to take their toys and go home. The email concluded with the following threat:

“Many of us who have voted the lesser of two evils in the past will do that no longer. The way we look at it, this country can die a quick death under Democrat leadership or a slow death under compromising Republicans. Either way, it will die.”

Politically speaking, that sounds like assisted suicide to me.

So much for ideological purity, huh?