Sign should read 'Welcome To Common Sense Country'

I would like to thank Ken Carpenter for his many years of service to our community. Yes, the pro-Trump billboard needs to be changed. Common-sense values have always been our hallmark.

Donald Trump has served as a cancer on the soul of America. That is given. What bothers me more is how the leadership, elected officials, and rank-and-file members of the Republican Party, in large numbers, are willing to follow him right over the cliff.

In 1972, I was an alternate delegate for Richard Nixon at the Republican convention. When the president's involvement in the Watergate affair was exposed, my support for him ceased to exist. The laws of our nation and the oaths of our officials are far more sacred than any political view. Have we forgotten this?

This new millennium seems to have ushered in an era of political divergence. It is hard to govern when our two political parties have staked out positions far to the left and right of the electorate at large. The Democrats are leaning toward socialism, and the Republicans are leaning toward fascism. Both extremes are dangerous. Long ago, George Washington cautioned us by saying that the establishment of political parties would be the beginning of the end of us.

Another malady facing us is the commingling of politics and religion. Nowhere is this more apparent than right here in Boundary County. We have some churches where political messages are delivered directly from the pulpit, or their facilities are used to host nationally-recognized hate groups and/or individuals. I might remind them of the Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) prohibitions. Folks are changing churches because of individual politics. It makes me wonder which g(G)od they worship.

Idaho politics has its extremes as well. Our first governor was assassinated. The mining wars. Brigham Young's raiders. Natives versus settlers. The ultra-liberalism of Frank Church. The racism of the Aryan Nation. Now, the American Redoubt invasion. Please … let's keep Oregon in Oregon. We don't need a bigger government.

Having been a Republican for the majority of my life, I now feel burned. I'm more disappointed with the folks who supported or continue to support Trump than I am with Trump himself. The lesson of this is … vote for the person, not the party. I did just that by voting for Tim Bertling.

I believe in common sense. I do not want the government controlling my births, my books or my budget. I want decent infrastructure to facilitate free enterprise and a responsible role in global affairs. Let us focus on what is right in and for America.

The billboard should read: "Welcome To Common Sense Country." That is what we are.

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Gerald B. Higgs is a Bonners Ferry resident.