EDITORIAL: Decide which candidates pass this test

As you prepare to cast your ballot in the midterm election, here’s one exercise that could help you make the best possible choices.

Consider each candidate and apply the following scenario.

We’ll call it The Greatest Generation Litmus Test, and we’ll attribute it with admiration to Dalton Elementary School Principal Jody Hiltenbrand.

In an important documentary recently produced locally, Hiltenbrand suggests imagining what members of The Greatest Generation — the men and women who joined arms, confronted and defeated one of the world’s most profound evils — would have done if they’d been transplanted in the year 2020.

Had they been facing the global pandemic and other enormous challenges of 2020 and beyond, Hiltenbrand asks:

“Would they have donned masks to protect the least among us … or would they have yelled at school board meetings and called school administrators ‘monsters,’ and attached the Don’t Tread On Me to their homes or their pickups?

"Would they have been the ones that attacked our Capitol? No, I don’t think that generation would have done that. They were committed to a greater purpose than just their own selves.”

A number of the names on your ballot would not pass that litmus test. On Sunday, we’ll refer you to several information sources that will provide a wealth of background on candidates. But an investment of 42 minutes and 27 seconds before then could reap great benefits for our community.

That’s the length of time you’d devote to watching a documentary called “What Are Idaho's True Values: This is Who We Are.” Type that into your search engine and watch it on YouTube.

In the film, Hiltenbrand is just one member of the cast of some of our area’s leading citizens, representing churches, businesses, governments, education, health care and more.

One thing all of these North Idahoans have in common is an abiding respect for the values that made our state the magnet it has become for people seeking a better life.

Please watch it. The documentary offers a clear lens through which all candidates should be evaluated.