The Idaho Republican Party has changed its stripes — now the party of big government | Opinion

It’s that time of year again. Spring training is underway, and we are on our way to a new major league baseball season. When I tuned in to a spring training game the other day, I realized one of the reasons why I’m so hooked on the game. Spring training and the annual World Baseball Classic come at a perfect time to provide relief from the ideas of right-wing zealots in the Idaho Legislature.

In their efforts to counter what they consider the “woke” existence in our lives today, a good many of Idaho’s Republican legislators are building a party of big government, a Republican party of legislative interference in our daily lives, intent on introducing bill after bill that adds voluminous weight to Idaho statutes and forces Idahoans to live according to the dictates of the high priests of Idaho’s right-wingers. No perceived problem in their warped and expansive interpretation of state government’s role is too far out of bounds for their state legislative solution. It was not long ago when such behavior was scorned by a Republican Party that accused Big Brother of cracking down on individual freedom.

These new guardians of our thoughts and actions seem to know everything about how we want to live our lives. What was heretofore the province of Idaho women regarding bodily integrity and reproductive health now falls under the control of a Legislature far removed from such a personal decision. While we’re at it, let’s just abolish marriage licenses so we can deny legitimacy to married gays who move to Idaho from other states. And their idea of assuring our safety in the public square includes overriding established state law and allowing private militias to parade anywhere and anytime with loaded weapons.

What heretofore fell under the purview of local governments will now be decided by Republican state legislators who spend three months a year in the capital city often far removed from the challenges of our schools, libraries and city councils. It seems so strange for a party that spends most of its time looking in the rear-view mirror and crowing about the good ole’ days. They ignore how 19th century America looked to observers like the Frenchman Alexis Tocqueville who came to America to study its young democracy. He came away with high praise for “local assemblies of citizens who constitute the strength of nations.” He declared that “a nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty.”

Instead, Idaho’s Republican-controlled legislature spends its time trying to kill off that spirit of liberty and supplant it with their own religious, cultural and political views. In many cases, their legislative solutions are not even their own. They emanate from the discredited Idaho Freedom Foundation, funded by dark money from a right-wing fringe or the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

An innocent enough sounding organization, ALEC offers “model” legislation to any lawmaker able enough to flip the switch of a computer and find its website. I can still remember when some of my Republican colleagues in the Illinois legislature would attend the annual ALEC meeting and come back with ALEC’s “canned” and extreme legislative proposals that later were declared dead on arrival in committee. Fast forward to present-day Idaho, and ALEC legislation has become the gold standard for right-wing legislators seeking to capture the attention of their radical followers.

America has a proud tradition of nonpartisan local elections going back to the days when reformers in the early 20th century wrested control of local governments from partisan ward bosses and their corrupt regimes of unsavory characters interested only in power and the accouterments of public office. Reformers reminded voters there was no Republican or Democratic way to pave a street so remove the partisan label from candidates for local office.

Once again, Idaho Republicans know better than that. A bill was introduced this year that changes the nonpartisan elections of the Ada County Highway District (ACHD) so candidates would run for office with partisan labels. It also adds two members to the district board increasing the likelihood of partisan control by Republicans.

Locally elected school boards are the best example of the long tradition of nonpartisan elections. School board elections turn on the qualities of the candidates and their positions on issues related to education, not on R and D labels that would be affixed to their names. But not if Idaho’s meddlesome Republican legislators have their way. A bill introduced into the Idaho House would create partisan elections for school boards, a bald-faced attempt by the Republican Party to take control of our public schools.

Idaho is hardly alone in this right-wing spiral of one-party government that shows how hypocritical Republicans have become. Traditionally, the party of individual freedom, Republican governors and legislators now introduce measures into state legislatures that take your breath away as they barge into the most personal aspects of women’s lives and intrude on the daily lives of teachers, health care officials and anyone who chooses not to follow the dictates of radical thought. Gov.DeSantis’ hostile takeover of Florida education rewrites American history and attempts to fashion its schools and universities into the equivalent of Islamic madrasas. Ohio’s Republican legislators passed a bill out of the state House of Representatives allowing genital inspections of high-school athletes suspected of being transgender.

In our neighboring state of Wyoming, with the most Republican legislature in the Union, the Republican Speaker of the House has had enough of this nonsense. He recently emphasized the importance of local control and questioned why his state should fall victim to national organizations like ALEC’s efforts to intrude on the decisions of locally elected officials. Idaho’s Republican leadership could take a lesson from the Wyoming Republican and muster the courage to speak out strongly and forcefully against what they know to be legislation wrong for Idaho.

Idaho’s Governor Brad Little is now in his second term and in a perfect position to speak out against Republican legislators who interfere with the decisions of local governments. Senate Pro Temp Chuck Winder ran for mayor of Boise and surely should know and respect the authority of local governments. There is no reason why he cannot speak out against the radicals in his party as he did last year when he dissed the Idaho Freedom Foundation. Forget about it over in the speaker’s office where the right-rabid Mike Moyle takes up space once occupied by moderate Republicans.

The Idaho Senate kills some of the more preposterous bills coming out of the House of Representatives. And there are always a few Idaho Republican legislators who challenge the work of the wingnuts among them. But no matter how you cut it, the Idaho state legislature is developing a reputation as a nest of right-wing vipers who will strike out at anything that looks like an opportunity to impose their will on proud Idahoans who once decided these matters for themselves. And to think taxpayers pay them to take up their time with legislation more likely to tarnish Idaho’s reputation than solve any of the pressing problems they push aside.

Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radio and is a regular columnist for the Idaho Statesman. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.