Opinion: Look at people and policies instead of parties

If you know me, you know I struggle with the two-party system despite my current position.

There is no way for any one party to encompass the nuances of individual opinions fully. Our country has a large and diverse population, so it seems strange to get everyone to pick between one of only two major “teams.”

In Idaho, it doesn’t help that one party is trying to force people into an ever-smaller box. At the recent Idaho GOP convention, various suggestions were made, including that party leaders get to decide who matches their ideology closely enough to be given a stamp of approval to run for office. By giving more power to parties than to people, we run the risk of further diluting the power that we should have as citizens and voters.

Indeed, the focus on party—instead of on people and policies—continues to plague us. Our “representatives” are more interested in making their party leaders happy or appealing to the base than focusing on the people’s business.

As voters, we contribute to this problem as well. Too often, we let the letter behind someone’s name stand in for the research we should be doing on their proposed policies and record. The fact that we have a non-partisan city council and school board elections is a great feature of our state. Without a letter behind someone’s name, voters must take a little extra time to understand who they are voting for. They must compare policies. With incumbents, they must look at the record and decide.

Our system has become too much like politics as sports. We root for our “team” regardless. Unfortunately, this isn’t a game. Whom we put in office isn’t merely a matter of entertainment. We are dealing with important issues like affordable housing, education, infrastructure, preserving access to our public lands and accessible health care.

Some people have suggested that we add partisan markers to our currently non-partisan races. That wouldn’t be helpful in any way. Right now, the non-partisan nature of our municipal offices makes it easier for policymakers to work together for the people of our cities. There are still disagreements on how to proceed, and people with different ideologies must still work together. However, the pressure to ensure one party wins and maintains influence isn’t as important when your goal is what’s good for the people.

The current focus on party doesn’t foster work that benefits Idaho or its people. Instead, the current focus is on maintaining influence, satisfying party donors, and catering to the loudest and most extreme elements of a party since they’re the ones that show up for their “team.”

The rest of us need to start paying attention, moving away from hyper-partisanship and looking past parties to people and policies.

Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer, speaker and podcaster. She is the chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.