ELECTION: Blame it on low turnout

Following last Tuesday’s election, I saw a particularly telling letter to the editor where the author proclaimed himself to be an Independent. Who also proclaimed his disdain for the GOP closed primary that prevented him from voting for the candidate of his choice. I think for me the bigger issue is the low voter turnout. I have been a Republican for years. After my mom, Grace A. Harman died, and I had an opportunity to move to where I now live, I made certain to register as a Republican again. I also kept the registration paper that was mailed to me over two years ago, and took it along with my ID to my precinct polling place. That’s right, I went to my precinct polling place and voted. Is there some kind of problem with other people registering to vote and then voting?

If I have a few reasons to disagree with my fellow Republicans, these will be a few of the reasons: “Tea Party,” synonymous with the GOP, at its most extreme = take our country/government back! From whom? It isn’t who the voters elected for their President or even the members of Congress. The true ruling powers are the corporate and special interests, that because of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, have unlimited money to spend to also corrupt government with. To take the country or the government back, the “Tea Party” will have to demand the removal of vast special interest money from political campaigns. The Liberty Caucus = who’s liberty? I see plenty of ideological shifting of goal posts since the radicals have entered Kootenai County/Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

How about the liberty to think for yourself and disagree with political positions, that won’t benefit the citizens of Idaho? Reagan Republicans = making a myth out of a man who was once a Democrat, some ten or better years after his death. When it comes right down to it, the corporate interests who pleaded against Japanese exploitation immediately had President Reagan’s help and all the (government is the solution after all) intervention, to protect their specialized markets that they needed. Common Core? You supported it before you opposed it. States’ Rights versus the Affordable Care Act? How about making sure the citizens of this state have good paying jobs, good education, and therefore can actually afford both the insurance and health care? Repeal the 17th Amendment? A code phrase for the GOP to play the race card. I’ll also bet they will drop such a political plank once President Obama leaves office in 2016.

And finally, the constitutional limits on government = including here at the state level. A state government that listens only to well-heeled hunters, agribusiness, the NRA and so on, is obviously not going to be listening to the people who voted for them. Oh, and the specialized laws that benefited the above named special interests are a burden to the rest of us.

JOAN E. HARMAN

Coeur d’Alene