Idaho Needs Trumpian Politics
Trump’s analysis of what ails American politics explains Idaho’s politics, but Idahoans are trapped in the politics of yesterday.
The same oligarchy that controls American politics is aiming to control Idaho’s.
A new approach to politics along Trump’s lines is the most needful thing for Idaho’s new leaders.
President Trump transformed American politics. He understood above all that the old partisan divide no longer describes American politics. Republicans once stood for low taxes, less government, and less regulation, while Democrats stood for the opposite. Republicans were thought to be “pro-business” while Democrats were for the little guy.
These differences are now less important, if they exist at all. Still many Idahoans seem trapped in the old way of looking at politics.
A bipartisan national consensus has formed on many important issues: free trade, a commitment to international governance, most-favored nation status for China, open immigration, leniency for criminals, the destruction of the traditional mother/father family and much more. What these (and other) policies have in common is a rejection of the American way of life.
Elites prosper as economic inequality widens, influence peddling increases, and the elite are increasingly to able to insulate themselves from the ills that plague the rest of America. The politically-connected organize and bilk. Small businesses close. Inflation steals the savings of honest citizens. Housing costs make owning homes more difficult. The elite, Republicans included, say they are “pro-business” but what they mean is they are pro-global business.
Elected officials and unelected bureaucrats work together with corporate elites, the mainstream media, entertainment and academia to destroy the American way of life.
Trump understood this better than any elected official in living memory. Trump knows the American way of life is exceptional and that’s the way he wants to keep it. If there is one thing patriotic Americans know about Trump is that he, like them, is unequivocally pro-American and is willing to fight to the death to defend the American way of life.
As Trump also understands, this attempt by the elite to destroy the American way of life is not working out for the country as a whole. Elites prosper as economic inequality widens, influence peddling increases, and the elite are increasingly to able to insulate themselves from the ills that plague the rest of America. The politically-connected organize and bilk. Small businesses close. Inflation steals the savings of honest citizens. Housing costs make owning homes more difficult.
The elite, Republicans included, say they are “pro-business” but what they mean is they are pro-global business.
In order to destroy the American way of life the woke Left understands that it is necessary to convince enough Americans that that their way of life is fundamentally and irredeemably corrupt. To this end, our children are taught to disdain their country and white children are taught that they are white supremacists and should feel shame for their supposed white privilege. The elite tell us that racism and sexism are hiding behind every tree. The courageous few who challenge these lies are censored, fired or shunned.
This is all to say, an oligarchy has arrived in America—the rule of a minority of wealthy, who manipulate the government and the levers of the economy for its own benefit and at the expense of the people.
Many Idahoans recognize that this is happening throughout the world and in many places in America, but they tend to believe Idaho is mostly insulated from these oligarchic trends. This is simply not the case. The very same oligarchy is descending upon Idaho.
Idaho’s governments now tolerate much of what other states tolerate: homelessness, drug use and opioid addiction. As with other states, our governments abet the breakdown of the family. They promote sexual deviancy at young ages. Censorship silences those who oppose vax mandates or lockdowns, as well as those who think differently on narratives of race, sex or election integrity. Our schools and libraries are becoming as woke as those elsewhere. The same media and interest group complex is descending on our state.
The ruling elite in Idaho, like elites elsewhere, increasingly sees America divided along racial, ethnic, and sexual lines. It will not be long before Idaho follows the legal regimes of those on the American coasts where laws and influence are often unequal: The aggrieved and the elite operate under one set of rules; the rest of us, the “oppressors,” operate under another. Idaho’s elite dress like Middleton, but bend the knee to Micron and wokeness.
Most Idahoans reject this woke oligarchy in their bones. Refugees fleeing to Idaho want nothing to do with this oligarchy. Both groups want a colorblind, patriotic culture where everyone is equal before the law, a culture that values families, faith, the cultivation of common bonds, and a decent way of life. They want the institutions of government, culture and business to defend civilization and civilized norms.
This is where Trump was heading and where Idahoans must head if we are to avoid the destruction of our way of life. Understanding the problem is the first stage. Acting intelligently in light of the problem is the next. New political leaders must break free from the old categories. They must understand Idaho’s problems as Trump does.