Last week, I wrote about the growing links and connections the far right has been developing in some of the most politically influential sectors of Idaho. It’s part of a string of 2023 down sides of important developments in the state.
Those are cause for concern, but not despair; they should translate to action, not passivity. Today, looking ahead to a new year, a few thoughts on Idaho developments that show positive things can happen and that people in the state can make progress, that extremism at least can still be countered in the Gem State.
It’s still possible to hit the brakes before the state goes over the cliff.
You may be asking for some evidence of that.
The clout in Idaho of the far right, to which now should be appended the (ill-named) Idaho Freedom Foundation, is large, sweeping through the corps of elected officials, many state legislators among others, not to mention the state Republican Party structure. But it is not absolute.
Within the party, there’s rapidly growing pushback. Dozens of former and some current Republican elected officials have spoken out and, more important, organized. Their success is yet to be determined, but first steps have been taken; among them a willingness of people to go on the record. Legislators, too, have been pushing back. When a half-dozen of them in Idaho Falls were accused of crossing the party platform (which charge doesn’t even seem supportable, but no matter), those legislators refused to be called on the carpet for doing their jobs. It was a positive sign.
So is the push, by way of a ballot initiative through a non-partisan organization, for open primaries and ranked choice voting. These changes to state election law could have the effect of improving chances that the large voting population in the middle will have its voices heard and its votes made more effective. The measure already has passed, its advocates say, 50,000 petition signatures, which makes it a better than even bet for reaching the ballot next November - and if it does, chances of passage would be decent at least. The legislature still could mess with it after that, but enough members might understand that as too provocative.
Within Idaho government, mainly in areas where extremists have less voice, there’s been some useful activity. Governor Brad Little’s Idaho Launch program started in October, which aims to help as many as 10,000 Idaho high school students link with post-secondary education (community colleges and other options) specifically related to employment, appears to be an excellent effort. Others, including Empowering Parents, may show some useful results in years to come too.
The bad actors on the extremes have not been getting away easily, either, in a significant number of cases. Consider the legal action undertaken in Coeur d’Alene against would-be disrupters of the year before. Remember also: Ammon Bundy is in hiding and on the run.
Don’t forget either some smart activity on the part of Idaho Democrats - and yes, there has been some. I’ve talked with Democrats this year who have, unusually for their party, started looking far ahead and deep into the grass roots toward a rebuild of their operation and election chances in Idaho. They have a massive challenge, to be sure, but more than in a long time, a number of determined people are organizing and approaching it in a more practical fashion.
The times can allow for it, too. The doom-laden world view of the extremes to the contrary, much is going well in both the state and the nation: The economy (in remarkably positive shape overall, in Idaho and nationally), peace (for the United States at least), a passing of the pandemic and much more. The times can allow for improvement and, for the fair-minded, be cause for optimism.
The perspective is never as monochrome as it sometimes looks.
Hang in there in ‘24. The ride may be bumpy, but we’ll get through it.