What a great day for Christian Conservatives was Jan 20th, 2025. Our new Great Awakening was captured in one of the great Benedictions after Mr. Trump took the oath of office: Refreshing and inspiring to say the least. LET FREEDOM RING by Pastor Lorenzo Sewell:
At the end of a great day for me—THE OHIO STATE BUCKEYES beat the “Blood Sucking Holy Cross Fathers of Notre Dame” to win the NCAA D-1 Football Championship, things couldn’t have been much better. So, I relaxed in my office, and I read old Wall Street Journal articles dating back to 2015. And then reflecting on those articles and the events of the Inauguration I became more convinced than ever that DJT has turned the calculous of politics on its’ ear. Most people don’t even understand what has happened. Remember the scene in butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid, where The Kid looks down on top of the mountain at a posse chasing them and says, “Who are those guys?” Mr. Trump knew that WE THE PEOPLE are the guys.
In his first term he was a neophyte to the process of governance, but he was a genius and a savant when it came to politics. A lifetime in business, marketing and branding informed his political strategy. He had little experience when it came to governing large bureaucratic structures like government agencies. His political campaigns reflected his belief in streamlining the process. He ran all three campaigns at half the cost of his competitors. The media despised him. The political, media and academic elite all thought they were better than him. They characterized him, mocked him, and tried to put him in jail and confiscate his family’s wealth.
It wasn’t that he was a populous and appealed to the everyday person. It was that he approached politics from the “outside in”. In Washington DC and in our own State capital Republicans and Democrats and people from all political stripes huddle together in back rooms and over lunch or dinner and cocktails with lobbyists at the Arid Club or Ruth Cris’s. In Garden City developers “grease the palms” of politicians with campaign contributions and by sponsoring campaign events at private clubs. Everyday people who the politicians are supposed to represent can’t compete.
Donald Trump had an idea—approach the people directly. No lobbyists. No monied influencers of the process. Remember “no taxes on tips”? He first approached waitresses and waiters and Casino workers in Las Vegas with the idea. No media campaign. No lobbyists or Unions to carry the torch. He approached the people directly—It may have allowed him to win Nevada. He has done this with every idea. Tariffs, the border, government regulation reform. He doesn’t play “the inside game”, and those that have lived that life are now afraid that they will no longer carry influence over the “process of governance” that has forgotten everyday people except for the weeks preceding an election.
We have a perfect example in Idaho regarding the Grocery Tax. The hoops that those “in the know” are jumping through to not enact grocery tax relief reminds me of what happens when a special interest is allowed to insert itself in the “process of governance. Same with “School choice”. Are the legislators representing the teacher’s unions or the parents of students—each has a different interest regarding that issue. What about calls from the people for outside audits of government agencies especially The Department of Health and Welfare? Are they listening to the large hospital systems and medical establishment lobbyists like the Idaho Medical Association (IMA) or Idaho Hospital Association (IHA) or to patients who are their constituents?
Philosophically I find myself very much aligned with our current Governor on most issues—especially those issues informed by Providential values—drug use, Marijuana availability, abortion, transgenderism. I am not aligned with him on issues regarding the size of government, the cost of wasteful government spending, the holding of government agencies accountable like LUMA and Medicaid, and most of all his continued allegiance to the lobbyist class in preference to the desires of WE THE PEOPLE.
Right now, I see Mr. Little as having a clear path to a third term. In order to secure that path, I would like him to embrace Mr. Trump’s ideas about the process of governance. We not only need to cut the size of Idaho government by 25%. We need to cut the influence of special interest corporatists and lobbyists by 50%. Our Governor enjoys a secure position in the realm of Idaho politics. This gentleman who used to head The Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry (IACI) could become an “Idaho Donald Trump”, by listening more to WE THE PEOPLE and less to the special interest lobbyists.
Here is an idea. Cancel this years Governor’s Cup where lobbyists and Corporate interests pay the entry fees for Idaho Legislators and Municipal Father’s and have a big picnic at Bronco Stadium. It would be like a “mini-Trump Rally”—unless Trump came and then it would be like a real Trump rally. Listen to WE THE PEOPLE. Buy everyone a Coke and a hot Dog instead of an OLD FASHION or Bone in Rib Eye
It is time for Idaho Republicans in positions of authority, power and responsibility to start acting more like Donald Trump, and less like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney. It is time for them to start governing more like the way they conduct their politicking for two weeks before elections every two years. Govern and politic from the “outside in” instead of from the inside out.
The politician that incorporates that lesson into their campaigning and governance philosophies, may become the next “Idaho Donald Trump” and maybe the next Governor.
Govern from the outside in, or your fate might be like Paul Ryan’s or Mitt Romney’s.
