OPINION: Politics is a cha-cha-cha

In the May election, Kootenai County voters approved millions of tax dollars to support levies in the financially endangered Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland School Districts. Hundreds of locals stepped off the sidelines and became politically active to rescue them.

Yet at the same time, voters also elected county library trustees who openly campaigned on a promise to damage county libraries by removing books that their personal standards categorize as “obscene.” Libraries (and librarians) were mercilessly vilified.

How to live with this “one step forward and one step backward” political cha-cha-cha is a serious question. We cannot control the outcome of elections. We can only control how we respond to that outcome.

It is incumbent on us to hold the new library trustees accountable for whatever detrimental actions they may take. At the same time we should take the long view and remain optimistic about our public schools.

I’ve heard it said that an optimist is someone who figures that taking one step back after taking a step forward is not a disaster — it’s more like a cha-cha. You know that stepping forward comes next.

Public schools and our teachers now enjoy unprecedented public support and better funding than they did 100 years ago. Books that were banned years ago are now widely read classics. Similarly, any books that the new trustees aim to ban, will likely become more popular over time.

Two steps forward.

And the curtain has been peeled back to reveal the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee’s true values. We know they lied about the true cost of the levies and the incumbent library trustees. Just as they lied about critical race theory in the public schools and woke indoctrination at NIC. There is no longer any doubt.

Three steps forward.

But the school levies were only approved for two years. And libraries (and librarians) face an uncertain future at the hands of politically motivated leadership.

Two steps backward.

With every election we can potentially repeat past mistakes and create a pathway to new catastrophes. However, I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. who proclaimed “The arc of history bends toward justice.”

That arc won’t bend by itself though. It needs a little muscle from all of us to help it along its path. History does not inevitably progress toward a better life for all. Courageous people have to be willing to dance the cha-cha-cha and accept the back and forth that comes with progress, setbacks, victories and defeats.

We have got to set our pride aside. Let’s get together and dance.

It is up to us to create a more perfect union in Kootenai County.

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Evan Koch is chairman of the Kootenai County Democrats.