Congress may actually pass an economic stimulus bill this week, which is good news for the short-term needs of the country. There is no question the economy is tottering, and could easily tip over from recession to depression, so a bill that focuses on saving jobs and creating jobs is desperately needed. The good news is that the bill will definitely help achieve some of those aims. The bad news is that it will lay a crushing debt burden on taxpayers for the future, which can only be addressed if government becomes far more efficient in the use of tax dollars than it has in the past. That could very well force, down the road, what many of us have wanted for years, a smaller, more efficient government. But somehow, that doesn't seem likely. Because Congress hasn't figured out that the model for government is, and should be, changing. And the best example is the stimulus package. Despite billions of dollars in cuts, it still contains way too much pork. And some of the cuts (to make way for that pork) seem to make no sense, such as dropping $40 billion to help keep schools from having to fire teachers. That's counter-productive. The bill is supposed to save or create jobs, not leave them threatened. Both sides of the aisle bear the blame. The Democratic leadership rolled over on way too many pet projects among its members, losing sight of the long-term goal of the bill. And Republicans kept insisting on sticking to the same failed policies of the past, and playing the same old games where personal and party political power carried more weight than the needs of the nation. One GOP leader actually admitted his goal for the bill, and the amendments he introduced, were designed to divide the Democrats and make them look bad. So much for caring about the people of this country. Both parties should be ashamed. It is time for Congress to look up from its myopic and petty party power games, and its proclivity for pork, and look at the desperate state of the nation, focusing solely on programs that stand a good chance of meeting the goal of keeping people working. Making things work should be a bipartisan issue. This bill should be about America, not the Republican or Democratic parties. -- Kelly Everitt

Many not representated

Posted Wednesday, October 29, 2014, at 8:24 AM

Idaho is known as the most "red" state in the nation. It's conservative, but we don't believe it's as conservative crazy as some people may think.

We believe that the vast majority of Idahoans are either moderately conservative Republicans or middle-of-the road independents.

The Democrats represent a significant minority in Idaho, but a minority, nevertheless.

And the Tea Party is a minority within the Republican Party, with overall numbers that probably don't match the number of Democrats in the state.

Which is why we are concerned when there are far too many choices on next Tuesday's ballot all across Idaho where the choice is either a Tea Party Republican or a Democrat. In that case, neither is likely to actually meet the philosophical needs of the majority of Idahoans. This conundrum carries over in various similar forms in a lot of states in the nation. We're not unique.

In effect, the political process has become so broken that candidates who actually come close to representing the majority of the voters aren't on the ballot. At the least, that leads to voter frustration. At the worst, some voters will go into the polling booths holding their noses and hoping for the best as they vote for someone they really don't want to elect but because they aren't given any better choice.

Somehow, the voters, not the parties, have to regain control of the candidate selection process.

In the meantime, we'll keep getting "hold your nose" elections like this one.

-- Kelly Everitt

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Do you mean "representatered"? :)

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Oct 29, 2014, at 7:53 PM
Kelly is painfully correct, there is no middle in Idaho. Our candidates are either far right or far left..what happen to the centralist, who I now call the "Silent Majority"...Once again, Idahoans have re-elected for a third time a far right Governor and the voters of District 23 have once again voted in as their state house representative Mr. Nielson who is out of touch with reality, what is even scarier is that Mr. Nielson sits as Co-Chair of the state's education committee.

As a Centralist, we are in a no win situation in Idaho, it's the same old story...when will the voters of this district wake up and realize that Mr. Nielson is NOT a friend of Education, NOT a friend teachers or students, NOT a friend to big business or any initiative to improve the quality of life for his constituents.

Same old song and dance...it's getting boring already...what Idaho needs is CHANGE and change for the betterment of each of it's citizens.

It was obvious with last night's results that the vast majority love the status quo, it was also painfully obvious that if you have the letter (D) in-front of your name, your doomed!!!

Here we go again Idaho, another four years of cronyism and Butch Otter "good old boys" politics and another two more years of Mr. Nielson's far right agenda, when will the people of this state ever learn!!!

-- Posted by DUMBFOUNDED IN IDAHO on Wed, Nov 5, 2014, at 10:18 AM
I agree dumbfounded. The election that surprised me the most was the Superintendent of Public Schools. Someone that had plagiarized on her web site, mus-represented awards, and falsely said that she was getting a doctorate last August is not someone that needs to be in charge of our schools.

At least the people in Idaho knew enough to make that a close election.

-- Posted by Sam_1776 on Wed, Nov 5, 2014, at 2:37 PM

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