Shortly after the documentary The Rocky Mountain Heist was released in 2014, I called for the abolition of ballot initiatives. That film laid out how Colorado was flipped from red to blue, and I believed then, and still do, that if Idaho wanted to avoid the same fate as Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and California, we would need to take drastic measures.
At the time, many conservatives pushed back. They argued, “We can do something good with it one day.” Some still hold that view. But over the years, I’ve noticed a significant shift. More conservatives are waking up to the dangers of the initiative process, and while the legislature has tried to make it harder, I believe it’s far past time to repeal it entirely.
Ballot initiatives are a form of direct democracy, a loophole in the legislative process. If you don’t like the laws, the solution is simple: elect people who will make the changes you want. That’s how representative government is supposed to work.
But here’s the bigger problem conservatives must face: liberals have a propaganda machine we simply cannot match. The mainstream media will push every liberal initiative, while fighting tooth and nail against any conservative effort. And when it comes to money, conservatives either won’t fund initiatives or refuse to spend what’s necessary. Liberals, on the other hand, will pour endless amounts of cash into their campaigns. We will always be outspent, and not by a little, but by a lot.
Beyond money, liberals are better organized. They know how to mobilize, and when they can’t, they’ll buy the help they need. For them, the ends always justify the means. They will lie, cheat, and manipulate if that’s what it takes to win. As long as the initiative passes, they don’t care how it passes.
Take the abortion initiative that’s coming. The left doesn’t care about facts or reality. They’ll say whatever they need to say to make it easier to kill babies. And they’d do the same thing on guns, or any other issue, without hesitation.
Finally, look at Washington state for why even when a good initiative passes, it’s likely to be overturned in the liberal courts. Nearly all of the “good” initiatives that passed there were overturned by liberal courts. Idaho’s judiciary, even at the Supreme Court level, leans liberal on many issues. So don’t expect any help when liberals sue to block a conservative initiative here.
For every good initiative that you pass or try to pass, the liberals will get ten passed. Is that worth the tradeoff?
The hard truth is this: most politicians don’t have the guts to repeal the initiative process. But if we want to stop Idaho’s downfall, it has to be done.