Idaho Legislative District 6 Republican Committee

Category: 2024 Primary Election

  • Integrity in Affiliation Explained

    By Dorothy Moon, IDGOP Chairwoman
    Every two years, the Idaho Republican Party asks primary candidates to sign the Integrity in Affiliation Form. This simply asks if candidates have read and support the Idaho StateConstitution and the Idaho Republican Platform.

    Sounds simple, but nothing is ever simple in today’s media and political environment.

    Some, apparently troubled with the notion of supporting the Constitution and the Platform, call this a purity test or a tribunal. It’s nothing of the sort. This is an opportunity to share with the voters your position on the foundational documents of our party.

    Voters deserve to know if a candidate supports the Constitution and the Platform, and if not, why? Maybe you don’t agree on everything. Maybe you disagree with Article I, Section 2, Point I of the Platform that calls for the repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. Maybe you think income taxes are great, in which case you can sign the form with the caveat that you disagree with that particular plank.

    Maybe you don’t think something in the Platform goes far enough. That’s fine, just say so.

    What is the Idaho Republican Platform, anyway? Was it handed down from Heaven, signed by Abraham Lincoln himself? Of course not. The Platform represents the political positions of the Republican grassroots.
    Every two years, delegates gather in a beautiful Idaho city to debate new planks for the platform. Changes or additions are first debated in the Platform Committee and then ratified by the Convention as a whole.

    This tradition goes back to the beginning, when the first Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, PA. Those delegates created a platform that promoted the same ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that their (and our) ancestors had fought and died for. It called on Congress to ban slavery, calling it a relic of barbarism.

    Today, the Idaho GOP Platform upholds the same timeless tenets of freedom and liberty. It calls for fiscal responsibility, low taxes, sound currency, state sovereignty, citizen involvement in government, and an absolute right for parents to choose how to educate their own children. It stands in support of agriculture, water, natural resources, and energy production, as well as the Idaho National Laboratory.

    The Idaho GOP Platform recognizes the sanctity of the family, the innocence of children, and the right to life from conception. It supports the absolute right of self defense as enshrined in the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution.

    Our Platform is a statement of who we are and what we believe as Republicans. We haveasked all candidates in the Republican primary to submit the Integrity in Affiliation Form, which we will publish soon. Voters will know who supports Republican values.

  • What Makes A Republican a Republican?

    By Dorothy Moon, IDGOP Chairwoman
    In Idaho, becoming a Republican is as easy as checking a box on a form, and we welcome all who support time-tested Republican values. What are those values, really? What is it that makes a Republican a Republican? 

    Ask around and you’ll hear lots of opinions about what true Republicans believe. The left-wing media has all sorts of ideas, as do Democrats (and those that support Democrats, like Jim Jones). Why let them tell you what a Republican should be? Let’s go back to the beginning. 

    Our party formed from the ground up as men and women sought moral clarity in a divided nation. The principle that all are created equal was written into our founding documents, but slavery made a mockery of those words. The original Republican platform of 1856 reaffirmed the self-evident truth that all people are endowed with the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the purpose of government is to secure those rights.

    Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, said, “Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.”

    Frederick Douglass, who escaped slavery to become one of the great American orators, said, “The Republican Party is the ship, all else is the sea.”

    When big corporations first began to threaten the freedom of individual men and women with monopoly power, it was Republican Teddy Roosevelt who fought to ensure fairness: “A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.”

    Yet when government sought to control free enterprise in the name of central planning, it was Republican Calvin Coolidge who held the line against socialist ideas: “It will be the part of wisdom to give business a free hand to supply its own remedies.” 

    These timeless principles inspired Republicans in Idaho to pass laws to protect unborn children, who are the most vulnerable human beings in existence. Republicans ensured that parents have the ability to remove obscene materials from public schools and libraries, where our children learn and grow. Republicans have taken a firm stand against ranked choice voting, which is intended to confuse the electoral process. 

    For 170 years, the Republican Party has stood firm on the words of the Declaration of Independence, the foundation for the greatest and most free nation in history. Today, unchecked progressivism once again makes a mockery of those words. The Idaho Republican Party will never stop fighting for faith, family, and freedom. If you believe in those values, then we welcome you to the fight.