Watching the Idaho state Legislature in session is difficult. And it becomes more difficult each year.
But we can’t look away.
We need to pay attention.
Because the people in charge — and the supermajority we’ve had for decades — continue to play the victim while passing laws designed to silence the rest of us.
Bills that are coming up include:
— Making ballot initiatives all but impossible by changing Idaho’s Constitution.
— Siphoning public dollars to private schools.
— Doubling down against reproductive health and freedom.
— Spending time on “Greater Idaho,” an extremist movement meant to move the Idaho-Oregon border.
— Interfering in medical treatment for youth, stomping on parental rights and telling medical professionals how to do their jobs.
— Meddling with absentee ballots.
It’s maddening to see how our elected “representatives” waste time making up bad policies for non-existent problems. It’s even worse seeing the hypocrisy. People who claim that the federal government is overreaching have no problem imposing their ideology on our local cities and school boards. People who talk about upholding “parental rights” only apply that principle to very narrow circumstances they agree with.
Even worse? The lies. Watching the committee hearing on House Bill 71 was especially painful. Elected officials straight up lied about the body of research around affirming care, as well as what affirming care actually is.
When you look into their lies about Medicaid expansion, “school choice” and other policy items, it’s no wonder that people in the state just want to disengage. Our elected officials don’t bother to make decisions based on research and instead subscribe to a manufactured culture war created by their paymasters from various extremist organizations and think tanks.
They talk a lot about “protecting children,” but when you look at the legislation they push, much of it does nothing to protect children. In some cases, the legislation is designed, specifically, to bully marginalized communities. Our legislators talk a big game, but really much of it is manufactured outrage over non-existent issues.
And when we take matters into our own hands, as we did with Medicaid expansion? The response isn’t to do the people’s business. Oh no, these “representatives” instead work as hard as they can to ignore and silence us.
Unfortunately, it’s working. Few of us are paying attention. Instead, we view politics as similar to sports. We see it as a game, and we cheer for our team. Maybe there’s a player we like, but even when the team is doing terribly, we still cheer. Unfortunately, politics — especially at the state level — has a bigger impact on our lives than a sports game.
I’ve never been a proponent of the two-party system, despite my position. But in Idaho, two parties in power would be an upgrade. Supermajority rule by one party — and a disengaged electorate — has so far proven a recipe for extremism. And it might be too late by the time we all wake up to what’s happening here.
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.