I was listening to Weekend Edition on NPR this morning. The subject was the latest Palestinian/Israeli crisis.
I listen to a lot of national and international news, subscribe to both local newspapers, as well as newspapers from New York and Washington, DC, watch a couple of TV newscasts each night, and get news from various sources via social media.
It’s a lot of news. Most of it deals with issues that I can’t do a thing about. Sometimes I must remind myself that. To use a perfect term that has come into common usage in the last few years, I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with it all. None of us do. I can have opinions about what’s going on around the world and I can simply stay informed. But I can affect little of it.
So, I pull myself back to what is important locally and in Idaho, because I can move the needle here as a citizen and especially as a citizen running for the Idaho State Senate seat in District 15.
I’ve had this license plate for about 30 years. I’ve been writing about the state for longer than that and began working in state government in 1984. Most of my career with the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation was spent telling people about the natural wonders of Idaho and its history. That’s what 4IDAHO meant to me in the beginning. As an Idaho native concerned about the citizens of Idaho being heard, it means even more to me today.
Just about every day you’ll find me door-knocking in District 15 as I run for office. I need to hear what issues voters most care about, but sometimes I need to steer the conversation back to Idaho. I can’t do anything about the divisiveness in DC, the protests in Portland, or turmoil in the Mideast. But I can do something about property taxes in Idaho, improving outcomes in local schools, and protecting our public lands. That’s why the license plate, and that’s why I’m working my way around District 15 this summer so that I can better understand what would improve life in Idaho for the people who live here.
I look forward to having a conversation with you soon.
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