Bored Legislation

Just because you are elected to office doesn’t mean you have to do something for the sake of it.

I love Idaho. Truly, I find myself constantly in marvel of its natural beauty, safe streets, cleanliness, underrated food scene, and fabulous people. As a liberty minded conservative and Republican, I also enjoy the fact that this state is the least regulated state in the country by both measures. We are truly lucky to have the opportunity to live in such a well run state, but that very amazing thing is in jeopardy as we speak.

What is the threat that is knocking on our door every day? Something I like to call ‘bored legislation.’ Every year, I and many other Idahoans sit in fear and confusion whenever the legislature is in session. You see, what do you do when you run in a primary as the most conservative candidate that wants to ‘get things DONE’ but then you show up to Boise and realize that…pretty much every conservative thing has already been done? Enter ‘bored legislation,’ the idea of passing any sort of culture war legislation that attacks a problem that doesn’t actually exist, passing laws based on television talking points that are dubious in constitutionality, legislation not designed to solve a problem but rather to ‘own the libs.’ I get that many people who have moved here from places like California (I personally moved here from Mississippi/North Carolina) are feeling something of a trauma response to where they came from, but conservative big government is no response or defense for liberal big government.

What does this look like? An anti-cannibalism bill, bills to ban things that have already been banned, bills attempting to legislate the behavior of citizens in other states, and bills infringing on speech, religious liberty, and expression. We don’t need nor deserve this sort of legislative overreach any more than we need the left-wing policies of California or New York. Liberty is funny; it involves letting people be and live however they want, even when you don’t necessarily want to do or believe the same things they do. Take this concept of reading Bible verses in school. Putting aside the very important separation of church and state for a moment…who picks the passages? Is there a discussion? Who leads if the is? What about different faiths? What about people who don’t believe in it? The problem is, leaving non-believers and other faiths out of it for a moment, there are as many flavors of even Christianity ranging from your sans serif font non-denominational mega-church with a rock band to Orthodox Christians whose practices haven’t changed in centuries; how does a clumsy law about reading Bible verses in schools account for all of this. This is the true tragedy of ‘bored legislation.’ It takes Idaho from being a paradise of liberty and de facto inclusion (not talking about DEI and CRT, mind you) to a place that bounces between being authoritarian or the object of late-night comedy shows and lampooning.

I don’t know about you but I want our state to be viewed as a shining example of limited government, fiscal conservatism, freedom, and allowing everyone to live harmoniously no matter who they are. When I registered as a Republican when I was 18, I did so in no small part because I never believed that government was the solution in most cases (especially as it relates to culture and religion), but because I believed government WAS the problem. We have a laboratory of liberty here in Idaho, and many want nothing more than to ruin it by attempting to impose unnecessary laws and regulations through legislation that they come up with to pacify activists because they literally have nothing to do.

The legislature should probably be able to convene 6 weeks a year to accomplish everything it needs to get done. I suppose we will continue to have to debate the grocery tax for another decade (or we could just eliminate it and bump the occupancy tax in hotels to make up the difference lost to visitors, but that would be too simple) and keep trying to figure out how to put another band-aid on a liquor license scheme that needs to be eliminated entirely, but beyond that what is there really to do? Pass a budget (fix roads, fund public safety, etc), cut taxes if possible, and go home. Would I love to see even greater deregulation, like eliminating state-run liquor stores, eliminating more occupational licenses, etc.? Sure, but I think that is about as likely as California passing Constitutional carry.

Just because you are elected to office (even if you won by a mandate or unopposed) doesn’t mean you have to do something for the sake of it. Not every year has to be a dog whistle to a sliver of the constituency that shows up to a Central Committee meeting, not every issue can be solved with legislation; things have consequences, and the best legislation is simple, Constitutional, solves an actual problem, and is well written so as to avoid unintended externalities. This isn’t to say everything introduced this year or in years past is bad, but much of it has been unnecessary and capricious; we can do better; we ARE better than this in Idaho. I encourage anyone now or in the future elected to office to step back and ask if what they are doing is really necessary or helpful, if the answer is no, maybe it’s time to go home and spend some time reading a good book or spending time with your family.

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