[Vision2020] For Idaho's GOP, It's High Noon

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (November 1, 2013) Lewiston Tribune.

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For Idaho's GOP, It's High Noon
By Chris Carlson
There's a gun fight on the road ahead forming between predominantly "common sense conservative" Republicans and the zealots further to the right loosely lumped under the Tea Party label.
The stakes are high, for it is a battle for the soul of the Grand Old Party, and if the Tea Party elements prevail, the Republican Party will begin the slow fade into oblivion.
If the recent shutdown of the federal government and the showdown over raising the debt ceiling did nothing else, it should have demonstrated to the public in graphic detail that the Tea Party Republicans and weak-kneed "fellow travelers" (Like Idaho's two senators, Mike Crapo and Jim Risch) are willing to place partisan positioning and interest ahead of the national interest. None of these folks subscribe to the historic notion of the greatest good for the greatest number.
Their votes and conduct only serve to hasten the day when Idaho's GOP morphs into a new ultra-conservative party made up of only true believers who adhere to radical notions like returning the election of U.S. senators to the state Legislature, returning to the gold standard, abandoning the United Nations, defaulting on paying bills due and owing for already incurred expenses, punishing illegal immigrants already here and the list goes on.
Already having seized control of several key counties, such as Bonneville County, these fanatics are blind to the fact that they are narrowing their party's base, a sure prescription for eventual consignment to the ash heap of history. In Idaho, not satisfied with a closed primary system, they are pushing for a closed caucus system, virtually guaranteeing that only the pure zealots can carry the party label into a general election.
Therein may be an opportunity for Idaho's Democrats, however, especially in the state's 2nd Congressional District. The Tea Party and its financial backers such as the Club for Growth and the Koch brothers are backing Idaho Falls attorney Bryan Smith's primary challenge to eight-term "common sense conservative" incumbent Congressman Mike Simpson.
The May primary is restricted only to registered, true-blue Republicans and some observers believe Smith has a real shot at taking out Simpson, given the expected dampening effect of the new rules on voter participation. Reports out of the 2nd District say the prospect of Smith defeating Simpson is causing former Democratic 2nd District Congressman Richard Stallings (1985-1993) to consider making a bid for his old seat.
A former history professor at Brigham Young University-Idaho, Stallings is a true pro-life conservative Democrat with proven appeal to the voters of the second district. Were he to run, his strategy would be to build a coalition of Democrats, independents and disgruntled Simpson supporters.
Two other items also are working for the demise of the Republican Party as we know it, or, finally, a rejection of the Tea Party. One is the wrong-headed stance of both the GOP and the Tea Party on the issue of illegal immigration. Rather than working constructively to view those already here, whether legal or not, as potentially good, hard-working taxpayers, Republicans seem hell-bent on being punitive.
Hispanics already constitute 12 percent of Idaho's electorate and are a growing force throughout the West. Quite frankly, they are more and more seeing the Democratic Party as working for their best interests, not the Republicans. Thus, one can conclude that "demographics" are also against the Tea Party Rs.
The final item that will ensure the Republican demise is the probability that the moderates will continue to pander to the zealots and embrace the politics of hate.
Some folks, this writer included, have a hard time reconciling the claim of the Tea Party to love their country but hate their government. Instead of seeing their federal government as the U.S. Forest Service supervisor down the street or the Idaho Nuclear Laboratory clerk climbing on a bus out to the site at 5 a.m., or the Marine captain home on leave, they see faceless bureaucrats who get more special privileges.
Rather than convey respect for public servants, they convey disrespect.
These folks, motivated more by hate, invoke the Constitution and claim the right of a state to secede from the union or to nullify federal laws they don't agree with.
Yet they will stand at attention and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, not recognizing their hypocrisy when repeating the words "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Here's hoping the GOP wakes up and eliminates the life-threatening cancer in its midst.
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Seeya at the polls, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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