Congress, as always, can’t do anything amid so many mass shootings we lose track | Opinion

Congress is paralyzed, and the price is dead students

Congratulations, Idaho Statesman for reprinting Dana Milbank’s column, originally in the Washington Post, entitled, “Worst. Congress. Ever.” Milbank’s editorial is a reaffirmation of the currently inert Congress. Partly, this dysfunctionality is due to the rarity of any representative deviating from the party line, including Idaho’s senators, Jim Risch and Mike Crapo. Way beyond their blubbering condition, Congress is malevolent. There are many examples of their immorality, from their treatment of illegal entrants to their involvement in the insurrection to not impeaching a dictator wannabe. But among the civilized world, they reign supreme regarding their inability to ban assault weapons, implying they have an unhealthy respect for a wartime-intended mass murder machine and their manufacturers. The innocent victims include lots of children gunned down while cowering or maybe making Christmas cookies. The Washington Post found that since Columbine (1999), 380 school shootings have occurred with 352,000 students affected. In 2022, a record 46 school shootings occurred and 2023 has already eclipsed 2022.

Dave Greegor, Boise

If you stay home you get left out

I’m taken with the concept proposed by Jason Mercier. Your rights or preferences should be protected if you don’t vote. He noted that ‘special elections’ have low voter turnout, and the results could be swayed by the small majority that votes. To counter that prospect you preserve the super majorities currently in place. Why not remind us of our responsibility to vote, regardless of the time and place of the vote? It seems to me that retaining the supermajority requirement is another way to allow us to forgo our civic responsibility to vote without having any risk for doing so. One should either vote or live with the consequences of a low turnout, not continue a system that allows me to be lazy and not live up to my civic responsibility.

Kirk Hall, Boise

The inhumane death penalty

What business does the Idaho Department Of Corrections Director have in trying to execute a man so sick he probably can barely walk?

Bryn Clarke Hayes, Boise

Voter ID laws are discriminatory

Raise your hand if you know where your certified birth certificate is. Now imagine you are older, just moved to an assisted living facility and no longer have a driver’s license. Naturally, you want to update your voter registration. This may be a challenge for many in this situation.

Due to House Bill 340 passed in 2023, you need current identification. Don’t panic, you can head to the Idaho Department of Transportation and get a free identification card. But wait! How will you get down there since you don’t drive and how will you prove you are a U.S. Citizen?

These are just some of the reasons the Idaho League of Women Voters and Babe Vote have filed a lawsuit with the state of Idaho over HB124 (not allowing student ID for registering to vote) and 340. I agree with them that many people in Idaho, who do not have a current driver’s license, will find it next to impossible to obtain the free ID needed to register to vote. This isn’t acceptable.

Kayla Dodson, Boise

How to manage the stress of parenting

I am a student at Borah High School and in a Parenting and Child Development class. Through research and studying I’ve learned of a pressing issue everywhere, not just in Idaho: the stress parents feel. Raising children is stressful, but it’s how the parents manage stress that is important. I would like to propose some effective ways to deal with that stress.

One way is putting your child in a safe place and leaving the room. This gets you away from the thing that is causing you stress, keeping them safe so you don’t do anything you’ll regret later on. Next or another coping method is expressing your feelings through art, writing, music, etc. Last but not least, try talking to your kid about what’s going on. Such as, “Our family is very short on money right now. Dad and I are trying to make more, so we are not able to do that.” Explaining to them so they understand may help them.

Madeleine Winspear, Boise

We should be able to vote in elections we pay for

Idaho voters, not political parties, pay millions in tax dollars to fund all Idaho elections, including all political party primary elections. Yet, since 2011, our legislature and Supreme Court have allowed Republican, Libertarian and Constitution political party bosses the power to deny independent voters their right to vote in political party primaries their taxes fund, unless they join a political party. Only the Idaho Democratic party allows all voters, regardless of their party affiliation, to vote in their political primary election, without joining the Democratic party. Every Idaho voter should have the right to vote in any election their taxes fund. It’s time to give political power back to all Idaho voters. The Open Primaries Initiative will end Idaho’s closed primary system where political parties can deny voters their right to vote in some elections they pay for. The Open Primaries Initiative will give voters the freedom to vote in all elections, regardless their party affiliation, to elect more open-minded leaders focused on solving, not creating, Idaho political problems. Voters can help correct the “taxation without voting participation” injustice called closed primaries, by voting to pass the Open Primaries Initiative when it appears on the general election ballot in November 2024.

Steven Shake, Caldwell

House Speaker is shielding lawlessness

Many of the criminals who broke into America’s Capitol were identified by the public by the videos of the insurrection against the U.S. Constitution’ They were prosecuted and convicted of various crimes.

Federal law states that the crime of accessory-after-the-fact is: “Whoever, knowing that an offense against the United States has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts or assists the offender in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial or punishment, is an accessory after the fact.”

Protecting those who illegally entered the Capitol and tried to obstruct a legal proceeding by blurring the videos to be released to the public is such a crime.

The conservative National Review and the mainstream media reported House Speaker Mike Johnson saying: “We have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in the events of that day because we don’t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ...”

Johnson has since claimed he only wanted to “prevent private retaliation” and have “transparency.” Regardless, Johnson’s actions will prevent trials of Jan. 6 insurrectionists by blurring pictures. It is neither transparent nor lawful.

Ed Wardwell, Boise