Some Idaho Myths Outsiders Need to Put Aside

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I don’t have a problem with the word nationalist.  If it means America first, then I’m a nationalist.  In a country with 31.5 trillion dollars in debt, I would think we would all be nationalists, insisting we spend our tax dollars at home and not on quixotic missions in Asia.  The Ukrainians appreciate the assistance, but they won’t contribute to your Social Security.

I don’t have a problem with the word Christian.  I consider myself one.  I believe Jesus is Christ, my Lord and Savior and His kingdom will have no end.  A couple of hundred million of my countrymen feel the same.

When I hear the words Christian nationalist as a description, I’m not sure what that means.  Is it theocracy?  I don’t think so.  We don’t need a theocratic government because we already have one influenced by faith.  Our laws and founding documents are faith-based, even if some in government ignore them.  The American Revolution was a product of the Enlightenment, which was a product of the Protestant Reformation.  If you like your liberties, then you can thank a Christian heritage.

There are a lot of myths about Idaho.  People I know back east believe we’re all living on a summit 13,000 feet above sea level.  They believe the mountaintop is covered in nothing but potatoes, and some believe our elected politicians are far-right zealots.  We elect Republicans in Twin Falls County but many conservatives think the elected are closet liberals.  Some legislative votes give such evidence.

I’ve lived in Vermont, Delaware, and upstate New York.  There isn’t really much difference in Idaho.  Politicians, it seems, are all trying to appease liberal newspaper editors and are too welcoming of lobbyists.

A publication known as Religion News Service portrays one part of Idaho as a Christian nationalist outpost.  Why?  Because there are prayers that open political dinners and some people actually take their faith seriously and try and live by the tenets.  What sort of alternative would the writer propose?  The Satanists that periodically foul the halls of the state capitol?  Animism?  It doesn’t guarantee any rights.   Confucianism?  To better prepare us for rule by Chinese overlords.

I’ll take Christian nationalism over the options.