Backs Proposition 1

Idaho citizens have the opportunity this November to vote for Proposition 1, allowing all voters to participate in an open primary election to pick our candidates. Instead of the present system, where only people registered with a political party can choose a candidate, citizens will have the opportunity to vote and choose 4 top candidates, which should help elect legislators who represent all of us as well as possible.

The present system gives us candidates favored by the party leadership rather than by the voters. This has brought us a legislature that includes so many extreme members that they often fail to pass laws that we all want. This last year it also meant that the legislature didn’t adjourn when they expected, due to ongoing infighting and Republicans changed speakers in the middle of a session, which is almost unheard of. As taxpayers, we are paying for these squabbles when good legislation is what we want.

Some of the laws they have passed now harass librarians and doctors for providing the services they were trained to do, and, in the case of doctors, has hounded many of them out of state. One law proposed making it illegal to provide or administer an mRNA vaccine, a technology which offers new ways to treat cancer as well as protecting us from infections like COVID. That law didn’t pass, but it still cost taxpayers money and took up time that could have been used for things Idahoans actually do care about, like education and property tax relief.

I urge everyone to vote YES on Proposition 1, and may it give us more productive lawmakers.

Janice Boughton

Moscow

Better options than two slick phonies

We are being bombarded by an avalanche of flyers insisting state Sen. Dan Foreman is a great friend to education here in Idaho. That makes about as much sense as saying Chairman Mao was a great friend to farmers. Foreman has consistently voted against public schools and teachers, and even against the University of Idaho in his own district, a total no-brainer for any but the weirdest and most out of touch politician playing to the farthest right extremes of his own party. No wonder these people don’t want the open primary we will get when Proposition 1, the Open Primaries Initiative, passes in November.

Mao forced millions of Chinese into indoctrination and forced-labor agricultural camps. Foreman’s vision for education and Idaho’s future depends on diverting public tax dollars to fund private religious schools whose understandings of patriotism and citizenship are, to put it mildly, rather peculiar. And one supposes the number of kids who approach their parents asking to attend such places of indoctrination is approximately zero.

We have yet to receive similar propaganda offering equally nice but entirely false claims for Rep. Brandon Mitchell, but we expect it soon, thanks to the huge bonanza of out-of-state campaign money these fellows get in exchange for betraying their constituents.

Happily, Julia Parker — a mother and professional nurse — and Kathy Dawes — a mother, grandmother and career teacher — offer excellent alternatives to these two slick phonies. Register to vote today, using Idaho Secretary of State’s official on-line registration tool: voteidaho.gov.

Chris Norden

Moscow

Israel’s enablers

Earlier this month, Israel bombed yet another refugee camp along an ocean bounded strip in Gaza. The site had been previously designated by the IDF as a protected safe haven for displaced Palestinians. All that was left of the camp were three huge craters in the sand. At least 40 civilians lost their lives quite suddenly while they slept. They’re still looking for bodies.

Why is this happening? The answer’s easy: Because the U.S. keeps shipping bombs and other weaponry to a criminal regime. Who enables this? That’s easy too: a U.S. government run by people in very influential positions, many of whom share ethnic and religious ties with the murderous, genocidal Israeli regime.

American Evangelical Christians must also share some of the blame. They’re also the enablers, millions upon millions of them. For years I’ve watched American Evangelical pastors rant on about the right of Israel to defend itself, to secure, even expand, its borders and to prevent the indigenous Arab population from driving God’s “chosen” into the sea.

I think particularly of one portly old Evangelical pastor, whose views are shared by many preachers throughout the nation. He talks often about “God’s chosen people, Israel.” The man’s well known. His megachurch boasts 18,000 members. For him, Israel is the key to success and physical prosperity. If a Christian “blesses” Israel, he is blessed materially. If, on the other hand, he curses Israel, he is cursed materially. It’s as simple as that!

What is more, he who curses Israel is an “antisemite,” and has nothing to look forward to but an eternity of hellfire and damnation. I do not exaggerate the pastor’s words in the slightest.

Why, this guy can hold spellbound a packed hall of thousands, mostly adult, upwardly mobile worshippers. But even the youth among them seem equally glued to his every word. They frequently interrupt his sermons with vigorous applause.

What’s the attraction? I don’t know. There he stands, a lone, frumpy-looking figure under the spotlight, thousands of eyes focused intently upon him, thousands of mouths agape. And there are probably few of his followers who would not eagerly help to kill or drive all Palestinians from the Holy Land.

Timothy Moore

Potlatch

On the side of trickery or truth?

It has come to the public’s attention that anti-Prop 1 signs have been posted, urging Idahoans to vote against the proposition. The signs are sponsored by the Republican State Central Committee and feature a reproduction of the state flag, which depicts the state seal and the state of Idaho rocker.

Please note — inquiries were made to the Secretary of State’s office regarding the legality of the signs. They explained that the signs are legal only because they depict the entire flag, not just the seal. The office also assured the public that they do not endorse candidates, political parties or political issues. The department is nonpartisan.

Don’t be fooled by the Republic Central Committee’s desperate effort to dissuade voters from supporting the constitutional rights of 270,000 independent Idaho voters. The pro-Prop 1 supporters have not, do not, and never will resort to such deception.

So ask yourself — are you on the side of trickery, or truth?

Proposition 1 is on the side of truth, so please vote “Yes” on Proposition 1 on Nov. 5. Thank you.

Patrice Yeatter

Kooskia