ONE PARTY: A flawed formula

Somebody needs to state the obvious no matter how unpopular that statement might be.

Since it is primary election season, any number of Republican incumbents who want to be office holders are touting how they plan to reduce state government and taxes. Other than this being a rather shopworn mantra, its logic is even more questionable.

Republicans have enjoyed either large or super legislative majorities over the past 25 years, plus they had Republican governors for that length of time. So, one can ask the obvious: If you need to curtail government and lower taxes, what have you been doing the past quarter century?

As an observer of Idaho’s government for the past third century, my personal opinion of Idaho’s governance is poor. In my opinion, it is poor for a simple reason: Idahoans permit and even embrace one party rule.

One party rule works as well in Idaho as it did in the former Soviet Union or Russia of today. One party rule results in the poor governance that we citizens get, because there is no meaningful infusion of ideas from across the political spectrum.

No blame can be assigned to politicians making these claims no matter how illogical. No, the blame is squarely on Idaho’s one-party voters.

GEOFFREY HARVEY

Hayden