The real RINO in the room

You don’t think exactly like I do. You’re a RINO!

You don’t meet MY definition of a Republican/conservative. You’re a RINO!

If you don’t think exactly like me/us, I/we am/are going to brow beat, insult and attack you until you shut up and go away. Hmm, isn’t that what these same people who label anyone who is not their clone, accuse their opponents of doing?

I recently had a zealot, who obviously knows nothing about me, write: “You are a RINO and for alternate government (not true) everyone is going to see how bad you are for Idaho. Have fun! You will get what you deserve.”

Get what I deserve? Is that a threat? And this is certainly not the only person who, instead of having some reasonable thought, has knee-jerked to calling me, and others, a RINO.

Right up front: I am a very conservative man. Ask anyone who truly knows me. I consider myself a Ronald Reagan Republican. I’m pushing 64 and have never voted for a Democrat. So, to call me a RINO? Really?

I spoke at the recent Optional Forms of Government public input opportunity. I said that I think the entire process is a waste of time. If they do put choices on the ballot, I believe it will be voted down, as before.

I said that I like when government gives the people choices. I like when the people get to vote on choices. Isn’t that how it is supposed to work? Give the people choices and let the people vote? I said the comments that were being made by many others who spoke, appeared that they didn’t have faith in, or trust, those of the 103,000 registered voters in Kootenai County who do choose to vote.

By the way; to those who are claiming that the blue wave is infiltrating North Idaho and RINOs are hiding under every bed: The state numbers show 60,237 registered Republicans, 11,839 Democrats and 29,588 unaffiliated in Kootenai County. That is an 80/20 Republican to Democrat ratio.

Even if you give all of the unaffiliated to the Democrats, it would be approximately a 60/40 Republican to Democrat ratio. So, even if those 40,000 registered as Republicans and “infiltrated” the party, (as is the fearmongering being put forth by the local leadership) they would still be significantly outnumbered.

North Idaho is developing a national reputation of being a haven, refuge, etc. ... for conservatives. Democrats are not pouring into North Idaho. Why would they? Democrats don’t want to live in the conservative environment that is historically, and increasingly, here.

I believe in the Constitution and especially the First Amendment right to free speech and expression. Many of these people who accuse others of being RINOs claim to be patriots and wrap themselves in the Constitution. If you, as do I, truly believe in the Constitution, then you respect the RIGHT of EVERYONE to express themselves.

You have the right to disagree, but EVERYONE has that right. Whether far left or far right, and everything in between, EVERYONE has the right; in a civil society, without being insulted and intimidated, which is, sadly, what I witnessed happen to the few who supported the Optional Forms of Government being put on the ballot.

Who defines a RINO? It appears to be a small group. There are all kinds of varying conservative thought. To have a narrow, lock-step mindset, which appears to be the desire of those who call others RINOs, is otherwise known as a CULT. Many of these people who call others RINOs seem to be followers of the John Birch Society, which is, to a degree, taking over the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC). They claim to represent true conservatism.

Is the local leadership of the KCRCC actually representative of the thinking of the base conservative Republican in Idaho? A few months back, the KCRCC presented a resolution in support of the John Birch Society to the state GOP Central Committee. It was roundly denied.

Recently, the Bonneville Republican Central Committee put forth a proposal to the state GOP Central Committee to adopt the KCRCC template for vetting candidates. The same vetting process that the KCRCC uses in Kootenai County in an attempt to put one of their people in every elected position in Kootenai County. The state GOP unanimously denied the proposal.

The people who call those who don’t think exactly like them RINOs, do not represent the base conservative Republicans in Idaho.

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Ed DePriest is a Hayden resident.