My Radio Program Isn’t Your Ministry Of Propaganda

A local constitutionalist told me the other day I was O.K., despite what other people say about me.  I laughed.  Just a couple weeks ago a member of a local Republican Committee told me the same constitutionalist couldn’t be trusted.  You can guess where this is going!

The Republican establishment grumbles when I have Democrats or members of the liberty movement on-air.  The constitutionalists grouse when I don’t scream on-air at guests from the GOP establishment.

Strange, neither group signs my paycheck.  If the establishment wants me as a propaganda minister, then it can buy a series of radio stations around the state and pay me handsomely.  The liberty group doesn’t have the cash.  My checks come from Townsquare Media.  If spinning plates on-air drew big ratings the company would be programming circus acts.

A great many people, and especially those on the so-called liberty side, believe if they had the microphone they would expose the enemy and set everyone straight.  Their numbers are small, you see, not because of the fault in themselves but in our stars.  It explains why their cause hasn’t become Idaho’s dominant political philosophy.  Mainstream media and turncoats like me are feeding the public all the wrong information.  Sounds like arguments from liberals who claim conservatives don’t think on their own.

The liberty folks (used interchangeably with constitutionalist) might last one week on-air at best before the company gave the movement the hook.  Calling for violent uprisings on the public airwaves would rankle the Federal Communications Commission.

And the establishment GOP would bore people silly.  I’ve been avoiding some guests from the Republican legislative delegation because listening to them speak is the equivalent of watching paint dry.  I fob those guests off on my substitute.

The thing is, the liberty side and the establishment appear to agree on most issues but share a mutual distrust.  If you’ve been working (and as a volunteer) within a party committee for several years and Christy Zito comes out of nowhere and topples a GOP stalwart, you probably feel as if someone has taken your property.  More about Christy, later.

If you’re a liberty caucus member you wonder why the insiders are so afraid of speaking out.  After all, losing the chair of a party district isn’t like losing a paycheck.  Being a ward boss is more about status than economics.

Getting back to Christy.  I’ve known her for a dozen years.  Even some of her opponents within the Republican Party concede she’s a very nice person.  They’ve also witnessed she has a dedicated base and it turns out for primaries and Election Day.  Now she plans to transfer the loyalty into a State Senate seat in the same district.  In the Senate, with half the members of the House, you get twice as much clout, however.  Some other really big names are going to also want the seat being vacated by Bert Brackett.  They’ll get some committee support but it hasn’t stopped Christy Zito in the past.

Christy is another one of those liberty legislators who think I’m not on board with their righteous movement.  After all, it’s 100 percent correct 100 percent of the time and if 7 percent of my time I deviate, I’m giving comfort to the enemy.

You know, I was vocal in my support of the occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.  The Hammonds were going to die in prison because a granola chewing leftist judge sent them back to serve more time.  Many establishment Republicans were in sympathy with the ranchers but wanted it to go through “proper channels”.  Which is to say you feel for the Hammonds and maybe in 25 years the judge will be gone and there’ll be a new regulatory environment.  It’s like putting a yellow ribbon on your car.  It makes you feel better even though you aren’t the one dodging improvised explosive devices.

Some talk show hosts even went so far as to broadcast the events in Oregon and found themselves in trouble with the law.  It would’ve bankrupted me and some people say being bankrupt is the cost of standing up for what you believe.  Fine, but I’ve got obligations none of you know about (and said obligations are none of your business) and I may have a different strategy.  Sharing my position about Malheur on-air didn’t make my employer any more comfortable.  It’s easy though, isn’t it, to sit on the outside and say somebody else should risk their livelihood for your cause and, yet.  I was still much more vocal than many of my peers and explained in detail my position.

Come to remember, principled stands have already cost me a well-paying career in TV and a couple of other radio shows.  What more can I sacrifice for your self-interest?

There are things I very much believe in.  I’m still on-air because I stand by my convictions.  A.C. Nielsen seems to back up the notion someone speaking from the heart can have broadcast success.

Representative Zito mostly believes what she stands for.  Maybe she believes it all.  I can’t see into the hearts of others.  When it comes to the issue of child marriage in Idaho I believe she’s off her rocker!  Just because it’s the Democrats who’ve moved to bring an end to the antiquated practice doesn’t mean a change is a bad idea.  Zito told me on-air there is research that shows marriages at 15 are stronger than marriages at 25-years-old.  Who the heck came up with the data?  Warren Jeffs?

From where I stand, Zito must be trolling for the votes of some extremist wackies.  Funny, even some of the establishment Republicans share her views on “honor marriages”.  Are we going to sanction “honor killings” next under the banner of parent’s rights?  For a group that fears the growth of Islam in Idaho, this is a crazy position.

If parents can sell their children as chattel and marry them off just as they finish sucking their thumbs, then what other choices can parents make?  Can they abort the child before birth?  At 8 months and 29 days?  At 7 years?  If you’re pro-life than you darn well should be pro-children.

Bowing to the extremists may win votes but what happens when someone wants to burn their children to appease Apollo?  Are you going to call it choice and claim it’s protected under the First Amendment?  The liberty gang is contradicting themselves.  Your kids are human beings.  They’ve got liberties as well.  Not just a right to life but they also have a right to make their own mistakes and choices.  We don’t need to make their mistakes for them.

I’ve mentioned Christy is an old friend.  It doesn’t mean I’m required to back her in an election.  It’s possible I’ll get behind her campaign but for the time being I’m going to keep shopping.

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On another matter.  A local man I’ve met and believe is a very nice guy is the target of police in a decades old child killing.  I wrote a short piece about it for our website Friday.  It’s not like KLIX is going to ignore such a big story.  The man is a former candidate for Governor.  I mentioned in my remarks he comes across as a very decent man.  Who knows, this may all go away.  We don’t know.  Some people objected to a headline where I wrote he may be a killer.  “May” being the operative word.  It’s why police have searched his home and collected DNA evidence.  This is a pretty big story.  When the little girl went missing 35 years ago even President Reagan referenced her story.  She died.  Not likely willingly and likely it was painful.  Like everyone else I want justice.  Even 35 years later we need justice.

Police may eventually move on to another possibility but even Steve Pankey admitted this is big news because politics has made him a public figure.  I pray for Steve and I pray for the dead little girl.

I guess I could use a headline reading, “Somebody Accused of Doing Something to Someone Else a Long Time Ago”.  Would it make you feel better?  I suspect some of this is because many of us know the man being investigated.  If we don’t know the person then any headline is fine, isn’t it?