Montana Viewpoint: Good political advice

American politicians are leading us down a road to confusion. The only common goal I can see among politicians of either party is to get re-elected and it doesn’t matter how. Each of the two political parties has its stated beliefs, but because the public is so closely divided neither party can put its principles into practice. That may be a good thing. The country is divided because of the political parties, which are pitting Americans against each other in an attempt to give their own party control. To what purpose? Not for the common good.

My vision for America is a nation where people stop trashing other people and attempt to return to a philosophy of supporting the common good. Having a place to live, being able to put food on the table, not having to worry about feeding children and protection from fear are not unreasonable expectations. Still, it is the policy of one party to do away with social programs that might alleviate suffering and the policy of the other party to provide for the poor by soaking the rich. In between there is nothing; nothing but the desire on the part of politicians to get re-elected.

No one seems to be doing anything to bring the people of America together to make common cause. In fact, the most successful political practice today is to scapegoat the other side. Remember the word, scapegoat? It means to find someone or something to blame for problems real or imagined.

For the Republicans it is “undocumented aliens” for which you can just as easily substitute people with brown skin. Unfortunately, these are also the people who pick our food in the fields, serve our food in restaurants, build our houses and roads, and hold myriad of other jobs that keep America going. Because of the campaign of fear against them, they are not showing up for work, driving up the cost of living for the rest of us. A government policy that depresses the labor force does not help any American.

For the Democrats, it is the wealthy. If we could only tax them, we would have enough money to fix everything that needs fixing. I could agree, except that however the Democrats might try to tax them, the wealthy would be able to avoid it.

So, we have two scapegoats — the poor and the wealthy — and two political parties who are intent on making sure that the scapegoats are to blame and not the politicians. If you remember (but political memory is terribly short) in February 2024 Republicans and Democrats had come together on an immigration reform package that had the political support to pass Congress. Both the Republican and Democratic Senate leaders supported it, but it had one terrible disadvantage, its passage would take away candidate Trump’s signature campaign issue, immigration, and so, for political gain and Trump’s benefit, it was never considered in the House.

The genius of Trump is that he conquers by dividing. That could work well if it were a foreign enemy, but he is using the American people to fight American people. That is, well, un-American. Trump is nothing more than a politician in that regard, using a scapegoat to get elected.

Trump is successful because he knows how to use fear and division to his advantage. He is successful because the biggest fear of a politician (except for a very few who have principles) is not getting re-elected. Whoever succeeds Trump in the Republican leadership will try to use those same tactics because they have been successful.

The best advice I can give to a politician would be to go out and have a drink with someone from the other side. Tie on a good one and get to know one another. And if the parents, in the form of political parties, tell you to stop being friends, tell them to go to hell.

Jim Elliott served 16 years in the Montana Legislature as a state representative and state senator. He lives on his ranch in Trout Creek.