ideology

Just when you thought Republicans couldn't get any crazier, they go and scare the Bejeezus out of you.

The latest instance of lunacy comes from Montana, a state that saw Democrats put a foot in the door last November, gaining 47 percent of the vote. Hat tip to Matt Singer of Forward Montana who alerted us via email.

State representatives debated a Republican-backed gun rights bill at a long hearing Thursday. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Krayton Kerns, aims to clarify the "gray area" found in Montana's gun statute. And clarify it does. Take a look:

If passed, the bill would, among other things:

= allow people to carry a concealed weapon without a permit;

= greatly strengthen self-defense protections in the state;

= allow people to display their gun to deter an attack;

= allow people to use a gun whenever at risk of physical harm;

= and, in shooting incidents in which the person who fired the gun claimed self defense, require the state to prove that it was not.

What's so interesting about this is that law enforcement officials in Montana -- the ones that would have a freakin' clue about what's needed in a gun law -- are lined up against it.

But Montana’s law-enforcement community, including Gallatin County Sheriff Jim Cashell, came out strongly against the bill at the hearing, saying it could escalate gun violence and make it easier for criminals to cite self defense to avoid prosecution.

Cashell said Montana cops already do a good job distinguishing when shootings are in self defense.

“Our job is to go in and sort these situations out, and we’re pretty good at it,” he said. “(HB) 228 creates an unreasonable burden.”

Yellowstone County attorney Dennis Paxinos also weighed in, pointing out how ridiculous and obstructive this proposal would be, should it become law.

“There is no case, there is no reason, for such a huge change in our criminal code,” he said.

Paxinos described a scenario in which two gangs approached each other in a public park. Under Kern’s bill, he said, it would be legal for both gangs to display their weapons to each other, then open fire.

“It eviscerates the tools we use now to combat these idiots,” he said.

Here's a thought: perhaps the NRA, serving as the lead provocateur with this bill, should allow the law enforcement officials to do their jobs. This is a classic example of litmus test politics threatening the common good. The surprise here doesn't have anything to do with this idea coming from the GOP -- we've come to expect these crazy thoughts from them. What is surprising is the lengths the GOP is attempting to go in order to impose the NRA-driven agenda at the expense of Montanans' safety.

The Montana GOP -- If you like crazy ideas and guns, it's for you.

Couple small things.

First, I had time to look more closely at the Harvard IOP Poll. There was one more interesting finding that I didn't report on in my previous post:

• Young voters are extremely distrustful of the media, Congress, and the President. When it comes to institutions, Millenials place the most trust in the UN, the Supreme Court, and most of all, the military.

Combine that with the plurality of young voters (46%) who favor withdrawal from Iraq in the next year, and it seems that NeoCon foreign policy isn't going to fly with our generation for much longer. It also suggests that Millenials have less of a hard time than their parents (ironically) understanding that supporting the troops but not the war or the President aren't contradictions in terms.

Second, Josh sent me this great graphic illustrating generational political beliefs. It's pretty impressive seeing Generational shifts playout like this.

Typically, popular Presidents increase their party's lead among voters who come of age during their terms. In the case of Bush II (formerly "one of the most popular presidents"), it seems that Bush is so reviled among young people that he is actually working against his party and increasing the party identification lead that started under Clinton.

Mystery Pollster notes that these results are somewhat fleeting - people are bound to change their answers over time and/or depending on how the question is worded. Yet other studies show that we form our political opinions during our 20s. If that remains true, we may be witnessing the growth of the most democratically aligned generation in a century.

Click to view a larger image.

Via Business Week, Nielsen-NetRatings provides another incentive for Democrats to embrace social networking as a core component of their youth outreach:

New data from Nielsen//NetRatings show that Republican candidates have a larger constituency on the Internet—36.6% of users 18 and older, compared with 30.8% of users who support Democrats. But the most popular social-networking sites strongly tend toward Democrat and liberal-leaning users. On MySpace, 31.5% of members identify themselves as Democrats, whereas 23.9% say they're Republican. On Facebook, 49.9% of members are Democrats, while just over a quarter, 26%, are Republican.

Yet again, cultural trends provide progressives with a natural advantage over their conservative counterparts.