For almost a year and a half Idaho has been in a declared state of “emergency” because of Covid-19. The governor has used this time to make it a crime to go to church, he has made it a crime to have granny and grandpa over to your house for Thanksgiving, and he has usurped the authority of the Idaho legislature by changing election laws by executive proclamation.
In all this he has been a traitor to the American Republican form of government.
Our Idaho legislature passed two bills 6 months ago that would have ended the state of emergency, but when the governor vetoed the bills, the legislature failed to override his veto in the Idaho senate by ONE vote. Our district 1 senator was that one vote.
When I asked our senator why he voted to support the governor, he replied that he had talked to the Idaho National Guard commander, and that commander believed the legislation would have harmed the national guard.
But I read the bills, and there was no harm at all to the National Guard’s ability to respond in a real emergency. When our senator believed the commander, the “expert” above the people, our senator showed himself to be an elitist. Our senator believes the opinions of “experts” and “professionals ” matter more than the liberties of the people here in the district.
I, on the other hand, believe in limited government and maximum individual freedom. I believe there ought to be a real balance of power exerted between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. There also ought to be a real balance of power exerted between the state of Idaho and the federal government.
Benjamin Franklin said “A Republic, if you can keep it”. The way we keep this Republic is to understand what kind of Republic we were given in America. This is not the Democratic Republic of North Korea.
This is a Republic where the power is in the people, where there is a real balance of power between the state and the Feds and between the branches of government. Exercising state sovereignty and the balance of power between branches is how we keep tyrants in check. Exercising the boundaries of the American Republic won’t be done simply because it is written in the state and federal constitutions.
Keeping the American Republic will be done by the people and those who are elected who understand HOW to keep the Republic and then work and fight to do it.
I will be that kind of Senator, and for all of us in North Idaho, this is the first time in 26 years that we might have a liberty loving senator.