OPINION: We like our Idaho, but here’s who really doesn’t

This editorial was published in the Twin Falls Times-News.

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Let’s see if we can agree on this: Idaho is a great place to live.

Who’s with us?

We’d contend it’s a supermajority greater than that of Idaho Republicans in the Legislature — from those of us whose families have worked the land and built the economy for generations to the new arrivals who have flocked to Idaho for its deep conservative roots and values, robust job market, and affordability compared to the coasts.

Idaho’s population has increased by 22.52% since 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and, by percentage, only Florida and maybe Utah are growing faster among all states. We might grow a lot of potatoes — but we aren’t small potatoes anymore.

And who knows how many others are living elsewhere with one eye on our state. We don’t fault them for wanting a better place.

Idaho has, for years, lived by a balanced budget. The Gem State ranks second nationally for fiscal stability and economy, according to U.S. News & World Report. The gun laws are lenient, reflecting Idaho’s conservative nature. The abortion laws are especially restrictive, for the same reason.

We’re also the least regulated state, meaning Idahoans have more say in our way of life than anywhere else. That’s what the data tells us from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, which, in 2019, launched the State RegData project to take stock of the country’s regulatory landscape.

After South Dakota owned the top spot in the first year, Idaho claimed No. 1 and hasn’t given it up.

“The change in ranking came after Governor Brad Little, who was sworn in at the beginning of 2019, took direct aim at cutting red tape,” Ascend Magazine reported last month. “Throughout his first year in office, Little issued two executive orders — the Red Tape Reduction Act and Licensing Freedom Act — which helped the state cut or simplify 75% of regulations. In 2020, he followed up with two executive orders that forced an annual review of regulations and consolidated 11 separate agencies into a new Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses.”

This is the same governor, mind you, who has lost the support of his own state political party, which issued a “no-confidence” vote against him this summer and has attempted to convince anybody who will listen that he’s not conservative enough.

Little is plenty conservative. He’s simply not extreme enough for the few loudmouths on the far right whose goal is the oldest in the book, power and money, as we’ve written more than a few times in this space.

The power and money don’t come without stoking fear — and they’re good at that.

The state GOP emails read more like phishing scams — Idaho is under attack, hurry, send money, save our state. And if you can stomach the opinion columns, you’ll read more of the same fear-based messaging with the requisite buzzwords mixed with some combination of disinformation, half-truths or outright lies.

We understand why Little would prefer to keep his head down and work to strengthen the Idaho we have. But we asked him recently during his first visit with us if he needed to take a stronger stance against extremism to reassure Idahoans.

“That’s kind of my job. They need to know it’s not the evil empire, and that we’re trying to resolve people’s issues,” Little told us. “It is, literally, people that have come here from elsewhere, under the auspices of, if you to come to Idaho and get real involved, Idaho will not turn into San Francisco or Portland.

“Well,” he said, “the exact opposite is what’s taking place.”

To his point, Little told us he spoke with Gov. Greg Abbott, of Texas, which has experienced heavy migration in recent years from California, among other places. That state’s “deep-dive polling” found transplants to be “just as conservative, or more so, than the indigenous Texas people.”

He added, “I don’t have the granular data but, instinctively, that’s what I see (in Idaho).”

So, take a breath, friends. Boise will never be San Francisco, Twin Falls will never be Portland, and Idaho will never be California.

That’s not the message that will fill up the coffers of the Idaho Republican Party and its enablers. Which is why you’re not hearing it from them.

Idaho is a great place to live. The only ones who don’t seem to know it are trying to scare you into giving away your money to change it.