WEDNESDAY ROUNDUP: The Day After, Again
Election season is finally over. It starts again tomorrow.
Victory is sweet, but defeat is bitter. Losing the World Series at home and having to watch your rivals celebrate on your field is bitter indeed. Such is sports and politics. Yet as I predicted yesterday, the sun still rose this morning.
Mayor Jason Pierce fell short of his attempt to become the first two-term mayor of Eagle since the 1980s last night, losing the runoff election to Councilman Brad Pike. The incumbent gained nearly 900 votes in the second round, but it was not enough to overcome the anti-Pierce sentiment that had been promoted for the last four years.
I remain extremely disappointed with the way Pike chose to run his campaign. He promoted the same lies that SOS Eagle and its friends had been pushing for several years, telling people that he would “re-open” the Senior Center (it never closed), “restore” the Arts Commission (he voted to shut it down), increase Eagle’s police force (he literally said we need to triple our officers!), and fight against developers (he’s likely to prove more friendly to developers than Mayor Pierce). His decision to avoid debates, while proven to be strategically right in the end, was reminiscent of Joe Biden campaigning from his basement in 2020.
Nevertheless, it is done, and Brad Pike will be mayor of Eagle come January. It will be up to us as engaged citizens to hold him accountable and even to help him to keep Eagle the gem of the Treasure Valley. That means calling out his mistakes, but also praising him when he does the right thing. I like to say that politicians are like puppies — you must train them with rewards when they do the right thing but give them a swat with a rolled up newspaper when they do wrong. Hopefully they learn.
In other news…
Last week, Carolyn Komatsoulis from the Idaho Press called me for comment on a story she was writing about potential pro-abortion initiatives in Idaho. I am always wary when talking to mainstream news media, so I did my best to present my perspective clearly, and I think Komatsoulis reported it fairly and accurately. Check out the article, let me know what you think, and I’ll have a deeper dive on this issue soon.
Last week I listened to a fascinating discussion between Auron MacIntyre and anonymous Twitter poster Kruptos about the nature of propaganda. We tend to consider that a bad word, but at it’s heart, propaganda is just another word for persuasion, which is at the heart of our political system. The left can persuade people to see things their way through corporate media, Hollywood, pop music, and public schools, so we need to improve our own persuasion game to counter those narratives.
In any case, the whole discussion is worth watching:
In case you missed it, I had a good conversation with Matt McCaw, spokesman for the Greater Idaho movement last week. Check out the whole interview, and stay tuned for some articles about the movement in the near future.
Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld was invited to a meeting in Twin Falls last week, only to be unceremoniously ejected when the organizers realized that a conservative legislator had the audacity to attend. Read the story in her own words:
Finally, Bryan Hyde looks back on what Magna Carta, a charter of liberties signed by King John of England more than 800 years ago, means for us today:
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Great roundup, Brian. However, I fear you may be overly optimistic when stating "politicians are like puppies — you must train them with rewards when they do the right thing but give them a swat with a rolled-up newspaper when they do wrong. Hopefully they learn."
Here's the thing: Many politicians do not learn from or respond to citizen feedback. They love the rewards, of course, but they ignore the newspaper disciplinarians entirely.
For a recent example, look no further than our Idaho Senate leader who recently mistreated conservative senators who dared to break the rules by telling voters the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Many voters called for apologies and stepping down after the leader's tyrannical behavior. Instead, the Senate leader doubled down, went after another legislator, and simply ignored the rolled-up newspapers.
Sadly, politicians on both sides of the aisle have learned that they can ignore ordinary voters as long as they do the bidding of their major donors. Major Jason Pierce and several true conservatives in Idaho's legislature are exceptions to that rule. I hope Brad Pike follows Mayor Jason Pierce's example, and not that of the Idaho Senate leader.