Give a voice to all Idahoans

Recently, former state schools superintendent and state GOP chair Tom Luna was quoted saying, “This is probably the most important thing you will see on the (November 2024) ballot.” He was referring to Proposition 1, the Open Primaries Initiative brought up for your vote by 90,000 of your fellow Idahoans. Luna knows Proposition 1 will give 260,600 Idaho independents the right to vote in future primary elections. Today, they have no vote; that is, they have no voice in our selection of GOP legislative candidates.

Like you, Luna understands that all Idaho voters should have the right to vote in Idaho’s elections. He realizes that if you vote in the upcoming November general election, you can be one among the majority who will help ensure the right of all of us to vote in our primary elections. You can do that by voting YES for Proposition 1.

Borg Hendrickson

Moscow

Enough Republican lies

I fell sucker to the lie in the ‘50s that Southeast Asia was going to succumb to the “Domino Effect” (Eisenhower) and become Chinese Communist. That lie cost us 58,220 American lives lost in Vietnam, plus over 3,000,000 Vietnamese lives lost.

When I was asked to teach (UI English Deptartment) an honors literature class on the Vietnam War, I finally did some research and discovered how much Ho Chi Minh hated the Chinese for killing his father, a staunch Vietnamese nationalist. There was NO chance in h*** that Vietnam would ever become Chinese communist.

So when I hear the orange idiot yell “Comrade Kamala,” I want to yell back, “Enough American lives lost. Enough violence because of ignorance.”

I am a reformed Republican who became a Democrat because I was tired of the lies leading to wars overseas (remember also the never found “weapons of mass destruction,” another Republican president’s lie).

58,220

58,220

58,220

Remember that number the next time the liar from Mar-a-Lago claims that all us Democrats are communist. That’s almost as bad as some Democrats claiming that all Republicans are moronic pigs for listening to such violent lies.

I am a Vietnam War veteran.

I am a capitalist.

I am a Democrat.

I am exhausted because of honest, hard-working, good people voting for Republican nominees’ lies after lies after lies. Please, for the sake of our country and God knows how many American lives saved, vote for Kamala Harris and not for the Mar-a-Lago liar.

D’Wayne Hodgin

Moscow

Life under a dictator

Do Donald Trump’s supporters have any concept of living under a dictator?

Have they ever studied Russia under Putin, Venezuela under Maduro, Chile under Pinochet, Germany under Hitler?

Or closer to home, where Cuba traded one dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who committed genocide against opposition, for a “better” one, communist Fidel Castro?

Are they currently watching Benjamin Netanyahu stay in power to avoid jail time from corruption charges — convicted felon Trump’s goal? Despite massive internal Israeli protests demanding his resignation, Netanyahu continues his annihilation of Gaza.

Can they relate to being jailed, beaten and even killed, for opposing a dictator, as illustrated recently by Putin opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death and 24 Venezuelan Maduro protesters killed? Trump has pledged to jail political opponents, saying “such people will be ‘sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country’” (Spokesman-Review, 9/9/24).

Also, I ask Trump supporters, unless you’re wealthy, do you think he will change and actually support measures that benefit you rather than simply continuing to talk like he does to stoke your emotions and anger?

Project 2025, written by Trump’s associates, is his dictator playbook; he admires autocrats like Netanyahu and especially Putin to whom Trump would hand over Ukraine.

Locally, if Michael Baumgartner is elected U.S. representative, does anyone think he’ll stand up to Trump’s dictator aspirations any better than the other current congressional Republicans?

Carmela Conroy, opposing Baumgartner, has international diplomat career experience, including dealing with dictatorships, to help her understand and counter Trump.

Norm Luther

Spokane

Carter-Goodheart’s perspective needed

I’m supporting Democrat Trish Carter-Goodheart for Idaho House District 6 seat A. Unlike “conservative” candidates who seem to have no concept of land conservation or the conservation of disappearing species, she is ready to work for “restoring our forests and public lands” and makes “sustainable agriculture” a priority. She also supports early childhood education, which is proven to improve outcomes and is an area chronically underfunded in Idaho.

Trish is a Nez Perce tribal member. I believe her love for the land is real and that, particularly in Idaho where precious wildlands are so rapidly disappearing, the presence of a Native American perspective in Boise is long overdue and much needed. Thank you, Trish, for running, for giving us this choice.

Karen Schumaker

Deary

Parker collegial, pragmatic

Are you a traditional Republican, looking for a candidate who doesn’t make the hair on the back of your neck stand up? Voters across the country feel the tension of a political continuum pulled taut by extreme positions on both ends. It’s harder to justify casting a straight party ticket. Most of us are somewhere in the middle anyway, so here’s an idea: Julia Parker is running for the Idaho Senate in District 6. She’s a Democrat who gets along with everybody. Not that she’s a pushover, but when presented with sound arguments, she’s persuadable. She gains perspective from talking with people from all walks of life.

As a Moscow City Council member, Julia is collegial and pragmatic. She studies the issues, makes her case, compromises when warranted, and continues to work collaboratively beside colleagues, regardless of political ideology. Those would be valuable traits to advance in Idaho’s Senate, which has had a proud reputation for that over the years, but which now seem imperiled by the taint of negativity and hyper-partisanship in today’s fevered political environment.

Julia is a nurse, a mom, an educator and an eldercare expert ... all good skills to have in a Legislature tasked with voting on complex issues that include healthcare, family freedom, personal choice, education and the well-being of Idaho seniors. Check out Julia’s website (votejuliaparker.com) or invite her to meet you and your friends for coffee, so you can get to know her, then cast your ballot for Julia Parker, District 6 senator.

Nancy Chaney and Gary Bryan

Moscow