Defending Our Right To Protect Our Health and Safety

It is a dangerous time for Idaho. One of the most dangerous emergencies we have ever faced. The Coronavirus started in China, and because the Communist government lied to the world and said it couldn’t spread from person to person, now it’s all over Idaho.

Nine people in Idaho have died and there will probably be more deaths over the next few weeks, but because our Republican Governor issued his stay at home order, thousands of lives will be saved. We could have been Italy but Governor Brad Little made sure we remained Idaho by issuing the lawful order.

Many Idahoans are worried right now over the severe economic implications this has on everyday life. There has been a lot of misinformation, fear-mongering, and absolutism triggered by the anxiety of the situation. While opinions may differ on the reality of the virus, spreading fear and lies is simply irresponsible.

Organized Resistance to Reality

Some people like the Idaho Freedom Foundation aren’t satisfied with Governor Little’s response to this threat. Their supporters are calling Little names like tyrant and king.

At a dangerous time the extreme right is making things even worse for all the ordinary Idaho families who are hoping to save their grandparents, and doctors and nurses and police and paramedics, from dying alone in an ICU.

These far-right extremists are denying the reality of the virus:

They are also assembling in large groups where the virus can spread, cooking up conspiracy theories about martial law, and whipping truly dangerous potential lone wolves into a fervor.

Greg Pruett’s Idaho Second Amendment Alliance isn’t a real gun rights group like the NRA, it’s become little more than the ideological enforcement arm of the Idaho Freedom Foundation. Never one to let a good disaster go to waste, Pruett appeared to be suggesting it may be reaching a point where it’s time to go to war with the government.

They aren’t the only ones who are engaging in this dangerous fear-mongering. Idaho Freedom Foundation Policy Director Parrish Miller keeps implicitly comparing our Republican Governor to Hitler by comparing his stay at home order to Nazi Germany. For example:

I'm just wondering if the state government will issue yellow badges that we can wear when going outside on "essential" business? Perhaps star-shaped for easy recognition?#IdahoCovid19 #idpol #Idaho

— Parrish Miller (@Parrish_Miller) March 25, 2020

Another example:

Is that the kind of man you want to trust in an emergency? Parrish Miller is a man who responds to the Coronavirus emergency with extremist conspiracy theories cooked up in his absolutist brain rather than the facts. Many of those Idaho Freedom Index scores you see come from the same person, so no wonder people like Tammy Nichols and Chad Christensen are at the top, while good Conservatives lay near the bottom.

Ammon Bundy’s Dangerous Civil Disobedience Puts Us All At Risk

In the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, the “Patriot Movement” is twisting our cherished Republican values of freedom, liberty, and free markets into a wretched stew of hatred and paranoia, not just online, but with rallies calling for defiance of the law and even the use of physical force.

Ammon Bundy called for a “threefold attack” (before quickly realizing he had made a potential threat, and changing his wording to a “threefold defense”) on the legal, political and physical levels. By attending this mass gathering, Bundy’s supporters may well have infected one another with Coronavirus. They announced where they plan to take it next.

The “political” action that  Ammon called for was “all of us going to the governor’s house literally and saying you will not do this.” When Ammon Bundy talks about his liberty, he’s talking about his liberty to spread the pandemic.

We all know what kind of “physical” actions Ammon Bundy is capable of. Taking over buildings. Threatening police. He relished telling stories of his time in federal detention for these actions.

“It is very serious when the people are willing to physically defend themselves.”

Ammon Bundy is gathering followers for mass meetings that could speed up the spread of the Coronavirus. They’ve pledged to engage in armed defiance of our Republican Governor and our law enforcement officers.

This is where things can get very dangerous because as extreme as people like Idaho Second Amendment Alliance President Greg Pruett, Parrish Miller, and The Real 3% of Idaho are, their followers can be even more insane.

And this:

And this:

These ideas don’t always end with off the wall comments and scary memes, but sometimes turn into real action. Just this week in Missouri an antigovernment extremist planned to blow up a hospital. Thankfully he was stopped by our law enforcement officers.

It’s time for good conservatives to stand up for our Republican Governor Brad Little and the level-headed Senators and Representatives like him. It’s time to stand against people like Representative Chad Christensen, who got elected with the support of the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance and the Idaho Freedom Foundation and even got Ammon Bundy’s endorsement.

It’s good Conservative Republicans like Governor Brad Little who have proven they can be trusted in this crisis. The Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, the Idaho Freedom Foundation, The Real 3% of Idaho and the candidates who blindly obey their directions (ie: legislators that have an over 90% Special Interest Loyalty Score) have shown they’ll pretend it isn’t real or turn it into a paranoid delusion.

It’s not enough to simply reject the irresponsible behavior of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, Ammon Bundy, the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance and The Real 3% of Idaho. We should shun it.

We should shun the irresponsible idea that these groups’ right to defy Governor Brad Little’s lawful order trumps our right to defend our personal health and safety. Our Governor needs to know he has our support and these extremist groups’ behavior needs be exposed for how truly awful it is.

This opinion editorial was written by the Idaho Conservatives editorial board. Views expressed in this editorial are the exclusive opinions of the Idaho Conservatives’ editorial board and do not reflect the views of any other individuals, groups, companies, or organizations.