Red State Blues

A purple country. What an idea! At least to my way of thinking, it would represent a blend of red state and blue state philosophies and maybe even create some balance in our system of government.

It would appear, however, the scarlet powers that be in Idaho are afraid of just that. Too many Democrats got too many votes for comfort in the last round of elections.

It is nice to see some county officials thinking in a progressive manner - voting by mail as a way to encourage more people to vote. However, the pachyderms in power don't feel the people of Idaho can be trusted enough to do that. "People could have their ballots filled out by someone else. That just leaves too much possibility for error," states Brad Corkill, Kootenai County Republican Chairman.

What does that mean for those who request absentee ballots? Are they all intent on committing fraud? I hardly think so.

In a retort to the suggestion that vote by mail would be more economical it was asked "If our election could be stolen, why save money?" Bought; stolen - what's the difference? A one party power base has been doing it in our state for years.

Bob Nonini, Republican Repesentative from Coeur d'ALene expressed concern that voting by mail might encourage uninformed voters. Well - he got elected.

All in all I think it boils down to fear. Fear that if more people vote that color purple will deepen into something quite beautiful. That would really have the Reds singing the Blues!.