There's a lot at stake on Tuesday

Sorry, Mom.

Your political kids have let you down.

Mother’s Day is as good a time as any to lament the lessons Mom tried to teach but didn’t stick.

You know, the personal assaults and below-the-belt punches that accompany most elections. This one is no exception. What’s so disappointing, though, is that it’s alleged Republicans doing the assaulting against actual Republicans. The alleged Republicans, led by a cadre in control of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, aren’t really Republicans at all. They are Constitutionalists, Libertarians and Redoubters who have hijacked the party’s pace car, determined to shape our county into an image that fits their ideological fancy. We maintain that it is not the image most responsible, common-sense citizens hold dear.

As bizarre as it sounds, war is being waged for control of Kootenai County government. The war will be decided, for the next two years, anyway, on Tuesday, when voters will essentially pick two-thirds of the Board of Commissioners. Control the commission and you control Kootenai County.

Even though the state Republican Party frowns seriously upon the practice, the local Central Committee faction is backing two candidates for County Commission: Leslie Duncan and Marc Eberlein.

Marc and Leslie may be decent people with whom disagreements can be pleasantly addressed, but because of the master they’ve apparently agreed to serve, those disagreements are not likely to be resolved in ways that benefit the majority of Kootenai County’s taxpayers. Less government is good; no government is anarchy. We see the Central Committee platform listing dangerously toward the latter.

Only a fraction of voters will actually participate in Tuesday’s Republican primary, though it’s one of the most important elections in years. All we ask is that you do just a little more digging before you decide who deserves your support at the county level.

Spend half an hour on the Charles Carroll Society website and sample the kind of thinking that now fuels the local Republican Central Committee: https://charlescarrollsociety.com

You may find a lot you agree with and if so, vote for Leslie and Marc. That’s democracy in action. If, however, the logo and other material remind you of another religious/ideological fanatacism that scarred North Idaho for years, vote for someone besides Leslie and Marc.

No matter what you decide, thank your mother for teaching you to think for yourself.