We inform, educate, and empower Idaho voters for active involvement in the democratic process and social justice advocacy.
We inform, educate, and empower Idaho voters for active involvement in the democratic process and social justice advocacy.
Our nation will be governed for the next four years by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and their Cabinet in the Executive Branch, with the Legislative Branch, the Congress, including the Senate, with 48 Democrats, two Independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 50 Republicans. The 435-member House of Representatives will include 222 Democrats and 211 Republicans, with two vacancies, those of New York’s 22nd District, and Louisiana’s Fifth District. The putatively apolitical Judiciary Branch, headed by the nine-member Supreme Court, whose current membership is generally described as five conservatives and four liberals.
Sadly, one of things we’ve learned during the Trump years is that most Americans can’t even name those three branches of government known as the Pillars of Democracy, let alone describe what they do.
Idaho state government has been controlled by a Republican Governor and Republican-dominated Legislature for 26 years. Based on results of the Nov. 3, 2020, election, the 66th session of the Legislature, which officially opened Monday, Jan. 11, is made up of 28 Republican and seven Democrat Senators, and 58 Republican and 12 Democrat Representatives.
In light of the continuing COVID pandemic declarations of emergency and to protect the health and safety of legislative staff and the public, many legislative staff members continue to work remotely. For information on how to contact your legislators, click here. To contact a staff member or for questions about the Idaho Legislature, please call 208-334-2475.
Most public hearings, committee meetings, and floor sessions of the Idaho Legislature in the 2021 session that began Monday, Jan. 6 will be streamed live through the Idaho In Session resources of Idaho Public Television. For details of House, Senate and committee meeting times and agendas, click here to visit the Idaho Legislature’s Website.
After four years of the gross incompetence, divisiveness, prejudice, and nonfeasance from the kleptocracy led by Donald J. Trump, our nation, our state, and the whole world, must address not only the persistent pandemic and its long-term economic and societal consequences, but the more widespread sense of isolationism and societal misdirection, as reflected in a rioting mob of self-proclaimed Trump supporters who broke into the U.S. Capitol building and chambers on Jan. 6, two weeks before Biden’s inauguration. The mob, aroused by an incendiary “rally” speech from Trump, marched to the Capitol, smashed windows and doors, urinated and scattered feces in chambers, stole federal property, and forced a temporary evacuation and delay of proceedings.
It was the first time since the War of 1812 that the Capitol had been attacked. But this time, the vandals were not a foreign enemy, but our fellow Americans. It was a stunning affront to democracy, fueled by anger and violence. The mob fought through police barricades, stormed the building and entered lawmakers’ chambers. The Electoral College certification process was stopped and Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress were evacuated.One civilian was shot dead,
At the same time, however, Trump supporters and enablers took to social media to spread lies and hate, some falsely repeating the insurrection was an ultra-liberal plot by “antifa” to infiltrate a “peaceful” protest. Antifa is not an organization. It is “anti-facism,” the ideological and political opposition to the far right.
In the past four years, America’s broadly defined political discourse of liberal and conservative values has become more bitterly divided by lies and misdirection from the top down. While TransForm Idaho and many other organizations and grass-roots movements have sought to advance equal rights and social justice for all, such seemingly noncontroversial objectives have been overshadowed by hateful rhetoric and actions, worsening income disparity, and the social pressures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have only made things more difficult.
We aim to address this as an educational challenge, in which we hope like-minded citizen activists and voters will actively seek and apply facts and truth, and work in positive ways to correct our course as a civil society.
We are caught in an information crisis, and it’s largely one of our own making. This is a bitter irony the 21st Century, in which, with wide access to more information more quickly than ever before, so many Americans know so little about their own country and how it’s supposed to work.
A big part of civic activism is communication, especially with elected officials. Whether through letters, emails, phone calls, or in person, give them the good news and the bad. They work for us.
Help us help others be actively engaged in the democratic process to keep Idaho moving forward with accountable, responsible leadership, social justice, and better quality of life for all.
