What I Read in One Idaho Campaign Sign

One lonely sign.  Nine months before Idaho’s 2022 political primary.  The only political sign I’ve seen this far in advance.  In what I would describe as a working class neighborhood. It loudly shouts the name of Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin.  The Republican is a candidate for Governor in a very crowded field. 

While one sign isn’t enough to glean overall meaning, I don’t expect many McGeachin posters at the homes of comfortable Republicans who are content and/or happy.  They’re likely going to stay with the status quo.  McGeachin is an insurgent.  She was a Trump backer in 2016 when many GOP leaders were looking for anyone but Trump.  She was a delegate for Trump that year at the Republican National Convention.

What we may be seeing is a slow rolling change in her party.  It started 40 years ago with Reagan Democrats leaving an organization spinning far to the left.  A decade ago we had the Tea Party movement and then the election of Trump only five years ago.  The Republican Party is increasingly becoming the home of working Americans and fly over country.

Meanwhile, in some parts of the northwest, armed gangs are battling over the direction of the future.  Here we are, relatively close to Portland and Seattle, and our politics remain mostly civil.  Sure, a window got broken last summer at the state capitol.  Mainstream media would give the impression an angry mob attacked the glass with truncheons and ax handles.  In truth, a crowd in a confined space pushed forward and the glass shattered.

I don’t see violence in Idaho on the scale of what we’re witnessing in neighboring states.  Which we should note, is confined to a few blocks of two very large cities.

We’re experiencing a quiet revolution.  Idahoans appear to like individual liberty.  To be allowed a choice when it comes to masking or vaccinations.  Six months ago I would’ve said the 2022 contests would turn on one issue, the economy.  My thinking was the lockdown of 2020 would be old news and hard feelings would fade.  Then comes Delta and the scab is re-opened.  Next year may well determine who rules our own lives.