Originally published as an op-ed in the Post Register.
As we gear up for the legislative session, there are two questions to ask ourselves as we watch the posturing in Boise:
- Should our legislators focus on issues that impact Idahoans most and that we, as citizens, prioritize?
- Who should our legislators be accountable to?
I’m active in our community, working with nonprofits and speaking with people intimately connected to some of Idaho’s issues. I hear about the dissatisfaction felt by many Idahoans.
They’re frustrated. Conflict entrepreneurs profiting from a culture war seem to be driving the agenda. Most people I talk to (and it’s reflected in polls) want the legislature to tackle issues of housing, healthcare, infrastructure and education. They aren’t interested in what their neighbors choose to do, nor are they interested in restricting what other people’s children read in libraries.
Citizens want our legislators to invest in Idaho’s people and communities. Unfortunately, it appears some of our legislators are interested in consolidating power, limiting access to the ballot box and scapegoating the most vulnerable among us in their culture war.
One of the concerns is that legislators are less interested in being accountable to their constituents and more interested in catering to the loud voices of a few people doing their best to cling to power as they attempt to enact unpopular policies.
Locally, so-called leaders are trying to tell legislators that their loyalty should be to party. And, more specifically, the idea of party that they espouse. If you don’t fall in line with their narrow ideology, well, you must not be a real one.
That’s dangerous to our republic. Our representative form of government rests on the idea that legislators should be doing their best to represent the citizens and act in our best interests.
George Washington famously warned against excessive partisanship and how relying too heavily on parties could be detrimental to the republic, saying in his farewell address:
“…they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
Our legislators are not answerable to their party leaders—at least they shouldn’t be. They should be answerable to us. Unfortunately, some so-called leaders are trying to make it harder for our voices to be heard, attempting to place barriers to our participation.
They also hope we’re not paying attention. That we will opt out because of how “toxic” these loud extremists have made politics. If we hope to influence what happens at the Capitol, we need to show our legislators that we are willing to hold them accountable at the ballot box.
If you have time this legislative session, pay attention to your legislator’s priorities. And then determine whether they’re working on behalf of Idahoans or whether they’re trying to appease the voices of loud extremists.
Miranda Marquit is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer and speaker. She is chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.