For the past twelve years, we have had a very popular Governor named Butch Otter who proclaimed Idaho as the reddest of the red states, the conservative bastion of America. Well, folks, we hate to tell you but that has all changed over the years of his reign as our great state has been taken over by the crony boloney lobbyists.
As well-endowed as Idaho may be when it comes to natural resources, Governor Otter did nothing to push for Idaho taking control of land that is rightfully ours but controlled by the federal government. He did nothing to make sure that the conservative farming and ranching communities of this state were safe from the federal bureaucracy of rules and regulations. He did nothing to improve the plight of those who depended on those natural resources to make a living. Instead, he got the land board to purchase and exchange state land for commercial properties in the Treasure Valley.
This is how crony capitalism started and has continued to progress for years until we now have the Idaho Swamp loaded with lobbyist loving legislative cronies. Why did Otter do nothing when it came to fighting the Feds? Because Idaho receives forty-two cents back from the federal government for every dollar it sends to them giving Otter a good reason to side with them and not the people who elected him. Our legislators and bureaucrats no longer work for the people but work instead for those that continue each election cycle to pay for their campaigns so they can keep the old guard bureaucrats in office while they continue to suck on the government teat.
Governor Otter made sure his legacy of crony bureaucrats would be in power for many years to come so that he could still have his say in what happens in our state. Heck, do you really think that Brad Little could have won the last election without the support of Otter and his friends? Otter appointed many of the crony heads of our state agencies like former senator Dean Cameron as the head of the Department of Insurance and former senator John Tippets head of Environmental Quality. If you look back in history you will find that both of these legislators supported just about anything Otter wanted to do that was within the law. This my friends is how cronyism works. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch you’re back. Both of these gentlemen will receive very generous state pensions thanks to Otter, which you will pay for when they retire from government service.
Now armed with this background we would like to remind you that we have warned about this coming tax crisis for years that politicians only care about the next election cycle. They never seem to understand that if they don’t plan ahead it will cost the taxpayers in the end. They are only interested in making sure they pay back their supporters that keep them in office year after year. It is now time to pay the piper and Republican lawmakers who have been raking the taxpayers over the coals for years are holding a special meeting to supposedly listen to the people.
Maybe someone should ask the question, why did they allow these problem to get to the point that taxes are now forcing people to move out of their homes? The simple answer is poor planning and too many crony mouths to feed which always causes a spending problem. Remember the Wi-Fi deal that cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars because of cronyism. You can’t cut taxes until you are willing to cut spending and stop theft of taxpayer dollars like the Correction Corp of America scandal which cost Idahoan’s untold millions in overtime pay that never took place and was never investigated.
While Idaho grows by leaps and bounds people from all over the country especially California think they have found the last conservative hold out state in the country only to move here and get a huge shock. Taxes are rising rapidly. Infrastructure has fallen way behind growth, and that conservative state they moved to is looking more liberal in its urban cities than they ever expected. Truly conservative states don’t allow social programs like Medicaid Expansion or Obama Health Care Exchanges which caused countless Idahoans to lose their coverage and will eventually raise taxes for everyone. They also don’t permit Common Core to be taught in their schools and support universities like BSU that require courses in diversity and inclusion with taxpayer money.
Unfortunately, we can only blame the republicans since they control the legislature and have for quite some time, not that I think the democrats would have done a better job. We are supposed to be a conservative state but you wouldn’t know it by the way our legislators and governors have treated the people who elected them. Remember the gas tax passed in the dead of night and the promise to repeal the onerous grocery tax that was vetoed by our not so conservative Governor Little. Now with his support for Medicaid Expansion taxes are sure to rise even more in the coming years. I’m telling you, people, if you don’t vote these crony politicians out of office in the next election you will suffer the consequences. Look at their records and do your homework find out who the bad guys are and dump them at the polls.
While I have much respect for Representative Moyle he spends too much time sitting on the fence and we believe he has moved to the dark side of politics. Moyle says that the problem of high taxes can be fixed by the counties taking on some of the responsibilities. Well, we are telling you that he is wrong just as he was wrong in telling us that repeal of the grocery tax won’t help the low-income earners in our state. Mike is trying to pass the buck because he doesn’t want to admit he was part of the problem.
Labrador was ready to cut taxes if he became governor and threatened to dump the bureaucrats who run our state agencies. Guess what, he was right about the tax cuts he would have cut them and he knew where to find the money but the crony republican machine made sure he didn’t get his way. Little’s people ran a two-week campaign telling lies about Labrador to get Little the ultimate crony elected. Our problems can be fixed but not by the people who are now in control of our government. Only the voters can affect the change needed and they can only do it at the polls.
For twelve years, Governor Otter ran this state and in many ways is still very influential in state affairs and appointments. He has either installed or supported all the bureaucrats and establishment cronies who have caused the current tax crisis. Making the same mistake over and over again is the definition of insanity. Don’t make the same mistake again in 2020, it’s time to clean house, vote out the cronies and install some honest representatives who will work for the people.
If you want to take your state back and “Make Idaho Great Again” while draining the Idaho Swamp, you need to dump the crony politicians in 2020.
“We Get the Government We Deserve”
2 replies on “Make Idaho Great and Conservative Again”
To keep Idaho conservative, a law should be passed that states that for a person to run for political office, or to be appointed to a political office, both of their parents, and all of their grandparents would have to have been born here, or they would have to have lived hear at least 20 years. This way they would have DEEP ROOTS in Idaho, and hopefully, they would have adopted the original IDAHO VALUES.
I ask my Idaho politicians to introduce such a bill, but none of them seem to agree with the idea. If you agree, please contact your Idaho politicians, and ask them to introduce such a bill.
This would keep the liberals from sending their people to Idaho, with the purpose of running for office, and turning Idaho liberal.
This rule should also apply to federal offices and appointments.
This is a reply to John Dickey
While conceptually this is an interesting idea if you look at the crony politicians many of them were born and bred in Idaho. Because one is a native Idahoan or has live here a long time it does not always have an effect on their values and in fact we have quite a few liberals who were born and bred in Idaho. The easier way to make change is to make sure the people are informed about who’s who when it comes to the crony politicians and make sure they are voted out of office. For this to come about you need to have an active conservative press who are not afraid to publish the truth and obviously we don’t have any of them her in our state that are with enough circulation to have any real dynamic effect. Which brings me back to why I started the Gem State Patriot so that we would have at least one news letter that printed the truth and was not afraid to get involved regardless of the issue being debated. We have tried to help people separate the wheat from the chaff but our reach only goes so far which is why this effort needs to become a message passed on by our readers to their friends and neighbors.
We Get the government we deserve because we don’t pay attention and get caught up in the minutiae of politics.
If we want to change our state we need more honest people to get involved in our government and be willing to serve rather than take. I only hope that enough people read this and start the chain of events necessary to make the changes necessary to “Make Idaho Great and Conservative Again.
Bob N.