| Letters
to the editor from this week's Chronicle TO THE EDITOR, Thank you Skip Brandt for pointing out the pointlessness for Idaho Republican candidates to use the word “conservative” in their campaigns. The word has become a meaningless descriptor claimed by Republicans of all persuasions. Voters, please ignore the empty word and look at a candidate’s suitability for office based on real merits rather than meaningless labels. Idaho’s stature is the result of decades and decades of leadership by “reasonable politicians” of both parties. These foundations we’ve enjoyed are what so many people love about Idaho. Will our long term, and new, citizens continue to love Idaho and be happy to live here when it is governed by a bunch of unreasonable, ill-suited leaders? I think not. Voters, please think about this when casting your votes. Although I don’t agree with all of Brandt’s candidate choices, he has supported “reasonable” Republicans; ones who will not ignore Idaho’s laws and reasoned conduct by its leaders and citizens. In contract, Carol Asher, in her letters also appearing in the Cottonwood Chronicle and Free Press, is supporting contrarian, unreasonable candidates. Please voters, consider the quality and character of the candidates, selecting those you honestly would be proud to represent you and all Idahoans. Please consider joining me in supporting: Brad Little – Governor Scott Bedke – Lt. Governor Phil McGrane – Secretary of State Lawrence Wasden – Attorney General Sherri Ybarra – Superintendent of Public Instruction Carl Crabtree – Idaho State Senator Lynn Guyer – Idaho State Representative Frances Conklin Cottonwood To the Editor I’ve read recently where several people have stated that the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to abortion. The U.S. Constitution does NOT guarantee the right to abortion, but guarantees the right to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness.” Abortion is the taking of life from an unborn baby, therefore the Constitution does not guarantee the right to abortion!! Charlotte DeArmond Grangeville Dear Editor, The RINO (Republican in Name Only) label is getting tossed around a lot to describe anyone who questions the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s BS. Specifically, it has been recently attached to both me and sitting senator, Carl Crabtree. My Republican roots were formed by years in the private business sector. Prior to serving the people of Idaho County as a Commissioner, I was elected to the Kooskia City Council and then, Kooskia Mayor. When I won my first term to the Idaho State Senate (2000), I took the Senate seat back that had been held by the Democrats since 1963. I have a verifiable track record of following the Constitution of the United States, the Idaho State Constitution, and the rules and laws of Idaho. In 2016, I was one of only ten Trump delegates from Idaho to the Republican National Convention. I was privileged to be a 2020 Trump delegate and I look forward supporting Trump in 2024. Credentials of a RINO or a true conservative Republican? My experience in the political arena of local government, and especially in the Idaho State Senate, puts me in a position to know what abilities and qualifications are needed to be a successful advocate for protecting our rights as Idahoans. Carl Crabtree is a conservative Republican who has those qualifications and abilities. Regardless of the avalanche of negative IFF ads about him, Carl has proven his effectiveness as demonstrated by his ability to work well with others-skills the real RINOs don't have. Sincerely, Skip Brandt Kooskia To the Editor, Vote Carefully May 17 A couple years ago, from my perspective, my own people in Idaho placed myself, friends, and neighbors under house arrest for an extended period of time. Some were deemed non-essential. Others were stereotyped in ‘groups’. I found it alarming. Historically, that doesn’t end well. Vote carefully May 17. Scott Perrin Cottonwood To the Editor Write-in campaigns are a long shot in the best of circumstances but when Sandpoint mayor Shelby Rognstad declared for Governor, I saw hope for our schools. When will it start to embarrass us that we're last of 50 states in funding per student? When will this generation start to matter as much as the last? One of the main planks in Shelby's platform addresses Idaho's shirking of this responsibility. Please check him out online to see his innovative plans to remedy this and other deficiencies we're facing. Join me in writing in Shelby Rognstad on the Democrat ballot and please note the unusual spelling. Larry Nims Kamiah Redneck Review! No. 366 - 5/1/22 Backtrack #3! A third consecutive effort to review RNR's from the past which treated topics which are very pertinent today, and also because a large majority of current email recipients were not receiving these back in 2015! And we repeat here a statement made frequently at that time, and history students are often reminded of: "Those who do not learn from mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them!" Recall two articles back that Davy Crockett got a severe lecture from voter Horatio Bunce, that government handouts of welfare were NOT YOUR TO GIVE! Then last week we heard from Frederik Bastiat's old book, THE LAW, that governments that resorted to giving away tax dollars were actually involved in stealing, which he chose to call plunder, but since it was done by government, it somehow was legal! So Bastiat called it LEGAL PLUNDER! Both men hinted that such giveaways often resorted to REVERSE ROBIN HOOD TACTICS, in that recipients often involved friends that were much better off than many of the taxpayers forced to pay! And the long range predictions of both claimed that eventually the practice would bankrupt the country as more and more of that government "charity" would be given to more and more people, and thus would have to be obtained by borrowing and big debt! Today we look back to RNR16, dated 8/10/15, and we quote directly: "About the time our 1st thirteen states adopted our new Constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, said this about the fall of Athens, a Greek city state noted for its pure democracy some 2000 years ago: 'A democracy always is temporary in nature. It simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It will exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.' "This same information I came across about 50 years ago (which in 2015, would have been 1965, myself teaching at old SGA at the time!) called at the time the 'Simpson Cycle,' and at the time could be found in the Congressional Record. "Tyler continues: 'The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those nations always have gone through the following cycle: Bondage-->spiritual faith-->great courage-->liberty-->abundance -->complacency-->apathy-->dependency-->back into bondage.' "If we consider our country's birth date the 1776 Declaration of Independence, or the 1787 adoption of our Constitution, we find our nation is now over 230 years old!" (And today?) For some 30 years I used to ask my students three questions: Is the cycle valid? Inevitable? And where would you put the U.S. on the cycle? Invariably a hot discussion would develop on the first two questions, but with little exception, earlier students would place us at abundance! More recently, after 1990, more would argue that we were at the apathy or dependency stage! So I asked readers then and now what you think? And are the ideas of Legal Plunder, Not Yours to Give, A Reverse Robin Hood effect, and our National debt related to your answer. Jake Wren
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