{"id":1029,"date":"2019-05-15T06:55:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T13:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1029"},"modified":"2019-05-15T07:21:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T14:21:59","slug":"quit-griping-get-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1029","title":{"rendered":"Quit Griping; Get to Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The favorite pastime of the day seems to be railing against\ngovernment. Isn\u2019t that what these editorial pages are for? If you can\u2019t find a\ngood word to say about your government, then I think you ought to join it. Of\nthe people, by the people, shall not perish; or maybe you just want to gripe.\nWe are better than gripers; republic up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this republic needs our service if it is to prosper.\nIt\u2019s not just your vote in November, it\u2019s your voice we need. You, my fellow\ncitizen, have a valuable voice to offer to our common good. Keep your AR15\u2019s,\nkeep the stockpiles of ammo and rations, but invest in this republic. I still\nbelieve in it. Do you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t have the temperament for elected office but you care about your community, here\u2019s a way to serve: look through the list Governor Little updates regularly on his website<\/a>. Below the banner of the beautiful capitol in Boise there\u2019s a heading \u201cAdministration\u201d. Click on it and a list pops down that includes \u201cAppointments<\/a>\u201d. There is a simple description of how you apply, a link to download and print the forms, then a list of all the appointments that are coming up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll bet you thought these appointments were just handed out\nto Brad\u2019s old buddies. Not so. His office is making a strong effort to reach\nout and include all of us in this process so many disparage. Good for him.\nBetter for us if we show up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the positions require some professional experience\nand that makes sense. But even the Electrical Board (which will have 5\nvacancies in July) has an opening for an at-large member. If you are passionate\nabout electrical codes, here\u2019s your chance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d encourage you to look into the legal responsibilities of each board. You can look up the duties for the Electrical Board in statute (54-1006). Same goes for the Building Code Board; they have a great website<\/a> and a contact number to call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a long list of appointments the governor has to work\nthrough. Something ought to suit you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep in mind, some of these boards have a \u201cpolitical requirement\u201d,\nnot just a professional one. That means the governor will be looking for a\nDemocrat or a Republican. Why does that matter? In the best of all worlds, it\nshouldn\u2019t. But there have been many times in the history of this country, and\nthis state, when partisan affiliation was the test applied to governance. Sorry\nfact, but it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Idaho legislature saw such party politics a few decades\nago harming our common good and decided to impose in law a balance. So, there\nmay be a legal requirement that a board have three members from the \u201cmajority\nparty\u201d and two from the \u201cminority party\u201d. Such a requirement was designed to\nembrace balance and service to the common good, not promote partisanship. The\ngood old boy system needed a legal thwart. The legislature gave it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine that, the Idaho legislature embracing balance. Like\nI said, it was a while ago. But I respect the concept of balance. I doubt\ntodays legislature would see such wisdom. Partisan affiliation has become the\ntest before service to the common good. We need to show up folks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I encourage all citizens to participate in this process of governance. Lincoln\u2019s phrase, \u201cof the people, by the people, for the people\u201d was not in any founding document. In fact, he might have plagiarized it from a sermon by Theodore Parker. I don\u2019t really care; it is an ideal I can embrace. I would hope you can too. Quit griping; get to work. Our republic may perish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The favorite pastime of the day seems to be railing against government. Isn\u2019t that what these editorial pages are for? If you can\u2019t find a good word to say about your government, then I think you ought to join it. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1029"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1033,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029\/revisions\/1033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}