It’s Fair to Ask: Which Party Are They Really Building?

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Before the Montana GOP Convention had even finished, a curious little drama unfolded.
Rather than attending the Republican Platform Convention—the one place where Republicans gather to debate, defend, and define what it actually means to be a Republican—Presumptive Senators Dave Bedey and Llew Jones, along with Representative Brad Barker, decided their time was better spent attending a Democrat event in Billings.

Apparently, the platform could wait. The photo op couldn’t.
Their explanation? Republicans need to become a “Big Tent” party, just like yesteryear.

That slogan may have sounded clever back when we watched Bonanza, while eating Swanson TV dinners, and spun 45s of the Beach Boys. Sixty years ago, Democrats and Republicans certainly had major disagreements, but there was still broad agreement on many foundational principles: a strong military, fiscal restraint, patriotism, personal morals and a healthy suspicion of totalitarian communist ideologies.

That America is gone.

The notion that Republicans should simply “play nice” and blur the lines between the parties isn’t merely outdated—it’s politically absurd. A political party that refuses to distinguish itself eventually discovers that voters can’t distinguish it either.

Consider just how dramatically the Democratic Party has changed during my lifetime.

Working-Class Roots: In the 1960s, Democrats were largely blue-collar workers, tradesmen, factory employees, and union members. Most weren’t looking for government to solve every problem in life. Today, critics argue the party increasingly promotes larger government, expanded entitlement programs, and universities where communist ideology dominates much of campus culture.
Social Values: The Democratic coalition once included millions of socially conservative Catholics who were overwhelmingly pro-life. Traditional family values weren’t considered controversial. Today, abortion rights and LGBTQ issues have become defining priorities for much of the Democrat party. There was total agreement back then about self-evident things like boys in girl’s sports and which restroom to use.
National Defense: During the Kennedy and Johnson years, Democrats were fiercely anti-communist. The Cold War wasn’t viewed as an academic debate—it was an existential struggle. Democrats routinely argued for military strength and law and order.
Balanced Budgets: Here’s one that surprises younger Americans. The 1964 Democratic Platform pledged “Our goal is a balanced budget in a balanced economy” and emphasized fiscal restraint and efficient government.
Tax Cuts: Even more astonishing by today’s fiscal standards, Democrat President Kennedy proposed—and President Johnson signed—the Revenue Act of 1964, one of the largest peacetime tax reductions in American history, cutting both individual and corporate tax rates.
Gun Rights: Many Democrats, particularly throughout the South and rural America, viewed firearm ownership as perfectly ordinary. Today, gun control or even outlawing, has become one of the Democrat party’s signature issues.

Whether you see those changes as progress or decline, one fact is difficult to dispute: today’s Democratic Party is not the Democratic Party of John F. Kennedy.

Which brings us back to 2026 Montana.

Republicans enjoy a commanding majority in this state. So why would elected Republicans spend their own party convention time courting Democrats instead of strengthening the party that elected them? Why skip the meeting where the Republican platform is debated in order to appear at a Democrat gathering and Democrat leaders?

That’s a question every Republican voter ought to ask. Where is this madness heading?

The “Big Tent” argument sounds warm and inclusive until you realize what often gets left outside the tent: the very principles that made people Republicans in the first place. Republicans do not want compromise with a Democrat Party that is a FRONT for communism and the destruction of America.

There’s an old saying: if you don’t stand for something, you’ll eventually fall for anything.

Or perhaps an even more fitting reminder comes from the title of a bestselling book from the 1960s:

None Dare Call It Conspiracy!