Imagine a meeting of your neighborhood watch where the neighbor down the street bursts in, yelling “Help, my house is burning!” You survey the room and another neighbor is sitting there decked out in fire-fighting gear from head to toe.

The semi-annual Idaho Republican Party Central Committee will convene in Pocatello the weekend of June 20-21. Following a recent “trend,” the topic will not be “How to grow the Party.” Instead, it appears to be “How to whittle the Party down to only the purest compliers with Republican orthodoxy.”

This month, Republicans from throughout the Gem State will come together in beautiful Pocatello, Idaho, to enjoy fellowship and take care of important party business. The Idaho GOP State Central Committee is made up of delegates from every legislative district and county in the state. We gather every six months to hear reports from across Idaho and vote on proposed rules and resolutions.

America is a constitutional Republic. Or at least it usually is. Evidence is growing that, sometime between 2021 and 2025, nameless activists, never elected and completely unaccountable to “the People,” usurped the power of our nation’s chief executive.

Right now, the United States Senate is debating President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” Social media is weighing in as well, with opinions ranging from enthusiastic support to concerns about increased spending.

Life imitates art. Where we find heroes and villains in the popular fiction of our day suggests the landscape of heroes and villains in our everyday lives.

Transparency in government is essential. If exposure to public view is a disinfecting light, efforts to obscure and spin legislative votes are the tile beneath the urinal at a bus station.