Issues

The increased cost of living for Nampa residents, and all Idahoans, affects all of us, whether we think of ourselves as being on the left, the right, or neither. The biggest chunk of our personal budgets is usually our rent or mortgage, and the cost of housing has increased dramatically over the past 10 years. The economic forces behind this are complicated, as they often are, but basic supply and demand is a big part of it.

So, we need to increase the supply of quality, affordable housing in a way that’s responsible and sustainable. Unfortunately, there’s no quick and easy fix for this. Solutions range from incentives for developers, to changing zoning laws, to public-private partnerships.

We can also make it easier for folks to get new housing or to be able to stay in their existing homes. This might mean housing vouchers and rental assistance, stronger renter’s protections, or other direct aid to renters.

We need to study all the options, and choose the most promising ones, regardless of whether it fits with our political ideology. This isn’t a left vs. right issue. This is about taking care of each other, and helping folks to have the dignity of being able to take care of themselves.

Nampa’s public schools are still reeling from years of budgets that fall short of their needs, culminating in multiple school closures.

Now, the Republicans in the state legislature have enacted a voucher scheme, which essentially takes money from the public school system and gives it to families to use for private, often religious schools.

This hurts our public schools at a time when they need support more than ever. That’s bad enough. But it’s also difficult to enforce if people decide to spend the vouchers on luxuries instead of school. It gets into a murky area of religious freedoms that the government should stay away from. It tends to help wealthier families in urban areas that can already afford to pay for private school. And we have seen from other states with similar programs that the cost can balloon rapidly. The voucher program is already one of the main drivers of our budget shortfall, and it’s likely to get worse.

Instead of subsidizing private religious schools at the expense of ordinary families (not to mention our balanced budget) we should let these private schools sink or swim on their own. Idaho has an obligation to its citizens to provide quality education to all its children, whether they’re barely scraping by in a remote region or flourishing in Boise. Public education is a cornerstone of a flourishing and equitable society, and we must do better.

Healthcare has become a bigger issue than ever in Idaho in recent years. Federal attempts to increase access to the Medicaid program were rejected by our legislature for purely political reasons. In response, a grassroots effort to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot was successful. Ever since then, our Republican legislators have worked hard to reduce Medicaid coverage for Idahoans, as well as to make initiatives even harder to get on the ballot.

Meanwhile, rural hospitals are struggling. Healthcare “deserts” have become a problem in much of the state. People report needing to travel 2-3 hours for routine medical care in some areas. Loss of Medicaid funds will only hurt these over-stretched rural hospitals more.

And of course, Idaho virtually banned all abortion after the Roe v. Wade decision was overturned. This has resulted in OB-GYNs, as well as other medical professionals, fleeing the state due to the hostile environment and uncertain legality of their actions. Women routinely must leave the state to deal with difficult pregnancies. Some businesses even report this situation has resulted in them declining to open new locations in Idaho.

We need to encourage and support health providers in rural areas. We need to honor the mandate given by Idahoans to expand access to the Medicaid program. And we need to increase access to quality women’s health care, which includes abortion procedures.

You read that right. The GOP has lost the right to claim they are the party of fiscal responsibility. Their insistence on tax breaks for wealthy individuals and corporations, their fondness for leaving federal dollars on the table out of “principles”, and their irresponsible school voucher scheme have all endangered our long tradition of having a balanced budget. A tradition established in the very foundational document of the state of Idaho, our state constitution.

Budgets are all about priorities. And it’s clear where the Idaho legislature has put their priorities. They want to help out the people who are already doing well, and they’re doing it at the expense of working families and rural areas. They don’t want us to be educated. They don’t want us to have healthcare. If they did, we’d see those priorities reflected in the budget.

We can pay for the things we think are important without hurting ordinary Idahoans to do it. We can have a government that works for the people, and not just the big businesses. We just need the will to get it done.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual people are… people. And that’s all that matters. All anybody is asking for is that we be civil to each other. That we treat each other fairly. That’s it. Sadly, in Idaho, we still aren’t very good at doing this.

It’s still legal in the state of Idaho to fire people just for being gay, evict them from their apartment for being trans, or refuse to serve a gay couple at a restaurant. The majority in the Legislature has resisted all attempts to amend this bizarre and outdated gap in our legal protections, to my constant bafflement. We need to enact those same protections that we extend to everyone else. It won’t cost us anything. We won’t have to give up anything. There’s enough room in Idaho and in our hearts for everyone.

I can’t believe that I have to say this, but reading books is a pretty good thing. Encouraging our kids to read is even better. Books let us experience the world through the eyes of others, allowing us to see points of view we otherwise might never imagine. I’ve never heard someone say that they regret having read a book as a child. They may not always like it, but they’re never worse off for it.

Despite what some political activists claim, our librarians do not stock “pornography” on their shelves. Certainly not in the children’s section. Age-appropriate sex education or medical references are not pornography. Books that acknowledge that gay or trans people exist are not pornography. Hustler magazine is pornography. I trust that you know the difference, and I know our librarians certainly do. These attacks on librarians are not about protecting children or anyone else. They are about intolerance towards the gay and trans community. These attempts to ban books say more about the book-banners than they do about anyone else. Stop the book bans, let the librarians and teachers do their jobs, and leave the “culture wars” out of our libraries.

I think we are past the point where we can really debate whether climate change is real. The evidence is all around, from vanishing ice sheets to changing ocean currents. We don’t even need to go to the oceans or the poles to see the proof. We’re seeing it here in Idaho with our own eyes, every day.

Wildfires are becoming bigger and more frequent, and fire season is getting longer each year. The weather has gotten harder to predict. Heat waves seem more common. Spring came early this year, but it very well may never come this late again. Every summer is probably the coolest summer we will ever see for the rest of our lives.

We can’t turn back the clock, but there’s still so much we can do right now to avoid the worst of it. We know what we need to do, we just need to decide how best to do it.

We can transition all of our power generation to renewable energy. Luckily, we have a head start on this compared to most other states, due to the large amount of hydroelectric power we have access to.

We can improve and expand our electrical infrastructure. We can encourage rooftop solar and energy-efficient buildings. We can encourage electric vehicles. We can work with agriculture and industry to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and methane.

It’s all possible, and there’s no reason any of it has to have any negative impact on the economy or our daily lives. We don’t need to ban hamburgers or take away your pickup truck. We just have to be thoughtful about how we do it, and be willing to change.