OPINION: When political lines become curves
One of the central distinctions in mathematics is the difference between linearity and nonlinearity. The difference between lines and curves. Commenters on life and politics generally talk incessantly about today’s story as if it were a line. So, if the news is bad, the story is that it is destined to continue in that direction forever until we all crash and burn. The religion built on theories (and failed computer simulations) of man-made climate change is a great proponent of linear thinking. We only have x number of years to act. Give up your freedom and send us your money or we are all doomed.
That remarkable fact that the world’s population is healthier, richer, more peaceful and will live longer than any prior generation is routinely dismissed in people’s minds in favor of a much more pessimistic view of the immediate and long-term future.
Leaders use the language of lines to keep their followers in step and afraid. Constant fear is an effective motivator for a significant percentage of our population. Humans seem hard wired to react to fear rather than reward. It works, so you see all sorts of manipulative people use it.
We see that kind of thinking all around us in local politics. The traditional Republican party wrestled North Idaho away from the then dominant Democrats not many years ago. The traditional Republican party then lost the party to the influx of relative newcomers (describe them how you want). Does that mean that we are forever on a straight line to more reactionary policies and more politicians working in lockstep with out-of- state forces? Is this a line? Or, more likely in my view, a curve?
You can already see the curve if you review recent election results. The forces motivated in reaction to the trustee-led assault on North Idaho College won two of the three recent contests. They (we) will likely win in November 2024 and elect trustees to begin the hard work of rebuilding the college. You see it in the greater than 200% increase in the yes vote on the CDA school district levy during the last election. The no vote increased 11% during that same election. The reaction to losing the first vote was profound. Scare people and they change lines into curves.
The future will be a curve. The political views and politics of the current leadership of the Republican party in North Idaho seem to be reactions and push back against the national ideas and the relentless assault on our culture and Constitution by the Democrat Party.
By the same token, if left unchecked (and the line continues), the current leadership of the Republican party will be responsible for the successful rebuilding of the Democrat party in North Idaho. As a lifelong conservative member of the Republican party, that is not my preferred outcome, to say the least.
We need to work together to incorporate the best thinking of the entire spectrum of conservative thought to build a team capable of pushing back against the corrosive ideas of “woke” thought, racial divisiveness (pure racism by the Democrat Party) and the alternative histories of critical race theory. Our Constitution and culture are under assault by the Democrat Party and here locally, our institutions (schools, hospitals, libraries, community colleges) are under assault by the people now claiming to represent and control the Republican Party in North Idaho.
Please join us in our work to build the curve leading to a more rational, more effective team of political leaders.
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Patrick Whalen is a founding member of the North Idaho Republicans (NIR).Visit www.northidahorepublicans.org for more information.