Know thy candidates ... then cast thy vote

Every so often we hear something that stops us in our tracks and keeps us from going on, or at least going on as the same person we were before. I heard a radio report once, during the first, or maybe the second, Chechen War (Don't be so quick to judge. Do you know the difference?) where a reporter described how she was caught in a village that came under heavy artillery fire. She barely escaped with her life, and in an act of improbable courage actually tracked down the exact Russian Army unit doing the firing.

She said she told the soldiers manning the gun that she had come from their target and that there were no Chechen terrorists anywhere near it. There were only women and children - Russian women and Russian children because it was an ethnic Russian village they were turning to rubble. She begged them to go see for themselves, but the teenaged conscripts only stared at her blankly and kept firing.

You have probably read about a struggle within the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee. I'm cycling off that group after a 10-year term, so I can speak semi-intelligently about it. Most of what you have read is nonsense, although my sympathies are with the reporters who have tried to make sense of it. It baffles me as well.

It has been written that there are two groups struggling for control: 'conservatives' against 'moderates'; or alternatively, 'real Republicans' vs. nefarious, false-flag operating 'Libertarians and Constitutionalists' - all depending on your point of view.

Rubbish.

Few of the arguments have anything to do with political principles. The actual spectrum of political views on the KCRCC would fit comfortably in a thimble. Rather, some years back a few, cynical people created a bogus 'ideological traitor' narrative to advance their own personal agendas, or opinions about the specifics of how the KCRCC should operate. In consequence, people formed themselves into things much more like middle school cliques than political factions and started piling up a lot of bad history quick. Some newer members trailed along one group or another, following orders like the aforementioned teenage Russian conscripts.

I wish that I were making this up, but on one vote I saw several members consulting tiny scraps of paper written out by their factional leader, telling them how to mark their ballots in an election that entailed - demanded by its nature in fact - the exercise of purely personal discretion.

On occasion, I would urge one or another of the factional leaders to be the bigger person and reach out. Or, I would attend a meeting arranged by some poor, misguided soul who thought they could bridge the gaps and effect a reconciliation between key parties. It would be followed by bitter denunciations of all the 'weak sisters' attending, and more and greater ugliness by all.

Still, for the last couple years I have held out hope things would sort themselves out. I thought there were too may quality people seated within the group for it not to right itself.

No such luck.

Things hit rock bottom for me when the group was considering a motion of censure against certain Republican legislators who cast a vote (which I personally believe was) contrary to our common principles. However, in the course of debating the motion, the body refused to allow the legislators to explain their positions. For the first time, I was ashamed to be a part of the group. Even Pontius Pilate gave Jesus a chance to speak before pronouncing his sentence. There is no 'conservative,' or 'moderate,' or 'Libertarian' position on due process. There is only what's fair, and what's not.

Shortly after that dark day, I was whining to one of the kingmakers that I was done. I told him that I felt like Mercutio. I said, 'a plague on both your houses.' (Yeah, I actually said that.) I thought he'd snap back that I was being 'overly dramatic,' or a 'sunshine soldier.' Instead, he said he could not begin to understand how people like me failed to appreciate that all the problems were solely and exclusively the fault of his one, perfidious arch-nemesis (Alright, he didn't say "perfidious arch-nemesis" - exactly -- but this paper can't print the word he did use, so it will have to do.)

Whatever.

If you are a Republican in Kootenai County, do yourself a favor. Get educated about the candidates running to represent you on the body that runs the county party, the KCRCC. Like that radio reporter said to the soldiers, "Go see for yourselves." Pick up a phone. Talk to the person on the ballot. They are your neighbor after all. A good candidate will be able to share at least one legitimate reason for running - and in my book, "Somebody said the other guy's not a real Republican" is not a legitimate reason.

The party of Lincoln in Kootenai County is trying to keep the big tent in place while staying true to pretty straight and narrow principles. It's not easily done. But there are enough good candidates on the ballot to pitch in and do it. Unfortunately, there are a few dazed and confused conscripts on the ballot who will be no help at all if they are elected.

I know. I've seen it for myself.

Paul Matthews is a Kootenai County resident.