The waters have become so muddy over the years when trying to determine what the Idaho GOP stands for. The reality is that it isn’t easy to understand the vision or even to buy that one exists when looking at their efforts. What is clear is the effort to use hate and constantly point out disdain for anything that mildly resembles forward progress. Really what I am saying is — do the leaders of the Idaho GOP no longer know what they believe?
Looking back at the political battles stemming back to the late 1960s, the landscape changed so quickly, with a new effort to oppose the liberal movement instead of looking to achieve office through the traditional means of winning an election. Ron Rankin splashed into Idaho to escape California and locate a potential utopia for right-wing zealots. Building on this nontraditional approach to Idaho politics, the introduction of money to block what they called “liberalism” had begun. A California businessman named William Penn Patrick was running a pyramid scheme to fund and create a fight against liberalism in other states. A charge the Koch brothers would later take up. These certainly are not the last GOP carpetbaggers in Idaho’s history.
Since the early ‘90s, GOP leaders in Idaho have been far more focused on fighting against freedom rather than applying the foresight Idaho has needed to anticipate and navigate gains in technology and the growth of people. Another extremist movement introducing new ways to lean into the heavily religious-affiliated population was a movement called Proposition 1.
Idaho has always had an affinity for guns, remembering how the West was won and the fond memories of family hunts. However, a GOP representative from southeast Idaho decided that the right to conceal carry was not enough freedom. An additional “freedom” of owning and brandishing in a private restaurant at lunch in Boise was a new, needed freedom. A freedom so crucial that it required an attempt to boycott the locally-owned Boise restaurant 240 miles from his own hometown.
Unfortunately, extremism and attempted intimidation remain the focus for many of these policymakers. This past session was on the heels of the momentum of an identity-focused battle Rep. Ehardt started in previous sessions. It seemed like it could not get any worse than it had up until this past year. Then the Idaho GOP started to turn on itself. A shake-up in leadership and the continued efforts of Idaho Freedom Foundation adherent Brandon Durst have created a GOP more focused on sharing fear than taking action. The result is a new test: Who is loyal enough to the extremists? Only they are deemed worthy to run for office as the Idaho GOP becomes a select members-only club.
We’re all waiting to see what the Idaho GOP will come up with next. Will the rules they create make Idaho’s primary political party more exclusive? Will they work to create a further divide, leaving so many of their members with nowhere to turn? Sadly, it seems clear that the only plan is to push fear versus address the real problems each Idaho resident faces daily.
Dan Barker is a leadership consultant and the vice chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.