{"id":1621,"date":"2022-07-06T21:10:18","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T04:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1621"},"modified":"2022-07-06T21:10:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T04:10:18","slug":"seeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1621","title":{"rendered":"Seeds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got my height in 8th<\/sup> grade. I was tall then, but the late bloomers towered over me by my sophomore year. Why in the hell did I move from ground-based sports to one that expected me to be tall? It was the girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girls played volleyball. So, I decided to pick it up. It\u2019s a skill game. But I was athletic, and the skills came quickly. I watched the girls\u2019 skills and learned from them. They welcomed my effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men\u2019s game has an 8-foot net separating the teams. I could stuff a volleyball on a 10-foot basketball rim, so I thought I would be good. But a six-foot six blocker only needed to jump a little to be an obstacle. I needed to up my game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember practicing the steps, the approach, then the explosion off the ground. If I could just get a couple inches higher. Adrenaline helped. I found I could gauge the ball, start my approach, then at the moment needed to lift, if I focused my hatred on a spot on the ground, I seemed to get a little higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t hate my opponent. Their skills made me a better player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I hated the gravity, the earth, that held me down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could really jump back in the day. But I was a foolish young man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those years of jumping have worn out my knees. I will get one replaced in a couple weeks. It\u2019s the worst; they both need it. So, I will now reap from those seeds of hatred I sowed so long ago. We need to be careful about the seeds we sow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smile and wave to our grumpy neighbor is a seed. The time taken to understand a decision that will affect us is a seed. Blind partisan loyalty is a weed in full bloom. The seed was the hatred of the other we planted and watered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find myself wondering about our US Senate. Having served in a legislative senate, I know it is no comparison. Especially here in Idaho when both representatives and senators run for election every two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Senators get six-year terms. The 1789 Constitution had them selected by their state legislatures. This was a nod to the Articles of Confederation, which tried to make states sovereign. But it became clear in the late 19th<\/sup> century that a few well-placed bribes in a new state could buy a Senate seat. The inability of state legislatures to fulfill their obligation sealed the deal when a few states couldn\u2019t agree on their choice. Some Senate seats were unoccupied for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The 17th<\/sup> Amendment changed the selection of Senators to a statewide popular vote in the early 20th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our two Idaho Senators have served for 23 and 13 years. I\u2019m sure they know the DC ropes. But I question their loyalty to our republic. They both have caved to politics, partisan hatred, when the ideals of our founders should have been in their hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure they have discussions across the aisle to move significant issues. I\u2019m sure they listen to other Senators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But both listened to testimony about the actions of former President Trump and found no fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His first action was to elicit help from a foreign power for his own political domestic benefit. Trump withheld military support for Ukraine that had been approved by Congress to get them to do his dirty work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His second action was to deny the truth of an election and, with his words and violence of his colleagues, try to subvert our Constitutional process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These actions of our former President are poisonous seeds. Our Idaho Senators have nurtured their growth. And we have elected them, time and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t believe our Idaho legislature would hold them any more accountable than we, the voters have. The harvest is nigh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got my height in 8th grade. I was tall then, but the late bloomers towered over me by my sophomore year. Why in the hell did I move from ground-based sports to one that expected me to be tall? … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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\/1621"}],"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=1621"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1624,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions\/1624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}