Up Front / Commentary: It's too bad, but Idaho seems to have lost its way

When I was drafted into the Army in January 1951, I immediately thought I was going to be a hero. I would show those nasty North Koreans just what a guy from the Pacific Northwest could do.

The three states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington were the pinpoint of the progress of all the other states.

But I was drafted to fill the ranks of the 31st Division. It was called the Dixie Division, and it was made up of white guys only from Alabama and Mississippi. I got my first indication of what that outfit was like when cars and buildings would fly the Stars and Bars above the flag of the United States. They weren't a very educated group of guys, as some of them didn't even know who the Big Three of the Pacific Northwest were. I said to myself that I would never stand for our three states to be as poorly run as Alabama or Mississippi.

When I got out of the Army in 1953, I came back to these three states that so distinctly were progressing just like before. But about 1978, I looked around and Idaho had disappeared. It was as if someone like a Marine drill instructor or an Army master sergeant had called a "by the right flank, March."

Idaho became the Mississippi of the Northwest Three. Was this the same state that elected a Robert Smylie, a Frank Church or a Cecil Andrus, plus a Phil Batt? And yes, even a Glen Taylor, who then cast his lot with Henry Wallace for a run for vice president of the United States in 1948.

The state has one of the lowest averages in the nation in benefits for those who can't get a job. Its prison situation is god-awful, its school rating is right down there with Mississippi. It will have nothing of Obamacare if it has its way. And now they have a ruling that you can pack a gun with you when you go to college. I wonder if they are going to pass a ruling that kindergarten kids can pack a .357 Magnum to help shoot a bad guy or just a teacher they don't especially like. It looks to me like the elected officials in Idaho are afraid of the Tea Party people who want to take Idaho back to the Great Depression era. Also, they are at the beck and call of the NRA.

I could go on, but from the looks of it they are going to have the honor of rating below Mississippi. Idaho, what happened to you? You are probably the most scenic of our three states. Your people look just like every other American citizen (well, there are a few that are obnoxious, but I'm probably just as obnoxious to them).

So I'll end this diatribe with a simple proposition: Come back Idaho, we need you. We want to be us three again.

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Vic Deering is a retired Tribune printer and can be reached at city@lmtribune.com, or at (208) 848-2269.