IdahoFreedom

The people who masqueraded as conservative Republicans didn't do so well in Tuesday's Idaho Primary. The difference between the principled and the power-seekers has never been more apparent.

Despite a handful of very tough losses, Conservatives seem to have won big. Many of Idaho’s most establishment policymakers and biggest spenders will not return. This looks great for the spending index, as 11 of the 16 incumbents who lost their races scored an “F” this year. So, where does this put us ahead of the November General election and the 2025 legislative session? Could taxpayers see any savings? We dived into those details on this week’s episode of Fiscal Fridays. Timestamps and Sources Intro: 00:00 Conservative Wins on Tuesday: 00:50 https://index.idahofreedom.org/legislator-profile/?id=21529&_year=2022 https://index.idahofreedom.org/legislator-profile/?id=28661&_year=2024 Conservative Losses: 02:43 https://index.idahofreedom.org/legislator-profile/?id=28659&_year=2024 https://index.idahofreedom.org/legislator-profile/?id=23199&_year=2022 What to Expect in November: 03:36 Conclusion: 04:24 Outro: 04:42 https://idahofreedom.org/24index/

Yesterday's Idaho GOP primary wasn't exactly a blowout in one direction or the other. There were some notable wins and a couple of disappointing losses.

The Idaho Freedom Foundation and Idaho Freedom Action organizations may share some personnel and a common goal of freedom but legacy media is determined to blur the line between them and accuse them of exceeding their limits.

How would you vote when faced with an onslaught of new socialist programs in the legislature? Well, Conservatives in the Idaho Senate stood their ground against the expansion of the welfare state. They did this by stopping a new, virtually universal welfare program called the Summer EBT program. This would have given school-aged children food stamps regardless of their family’s income and continued COVID-era spending increases. In this episode of Fiscal Fridays, we will set the record straight: no children will go hungry without yet another welfare program. Summer EBT was never about feeding the needy, and the resulting growth in spending would only hurt those it purports to help. Timestamps and Sources 00:00 Intro 01:59 Department of Health and Welfare’s Summer EBT Program https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/S1455SOP.pdf 01:57 The Truth about the Summer EBT Program https://thefga.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/summer-ebt-paper-3-26-24.pdf https://www.sde.idaho.gov/cnp/sch-mp/files/reference/sfsp/Summer-Food-Service-Program.pdf https://www.sde.idaho.gov/cnp/sch-mp/guide.html 03:17 Summer EBT Program Hurts More Than it Helps https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2020-04/HR6201.pdf https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2021-03/Estimated_Budgetary_Effects_of_HR_1319_as_passed_0.pdf https://idahofreedom.org/food-for-thought-biden-leverages-school-lunch-programs-to-further-his-woke-agenda-in-idaho/ https://idahofreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/FY-2025-Budget-Highlights.pdf 04:46 Conclusion 05:09 Outro

With the May Primary less than a week away, there's a strong "you ain't from around here" vibe dominating some political races. Who are the real Idahoans?

In this interview, Dr. Jeffrey Singer, a practicing general surgeon and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, discusses the physician shortage in Idaho and potential solutions. Dr. Singer explains the current process of becoming a licensed physician, the bottlenecks in the residency program system, and how assistant physician programs can help alleviate the shortage by providing an alternative pathway to licensure. He also highlights the importance of market forces in ensuring the quality of healthcare providers and the potential benefits of implementing assistant physician programs in Idaho and other states facing physician shortages. Resources https://www.cato.org/events/expanding-access-primary-care-removing-barriers-assistant-physicians https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/expand-access-primary-care-remove-barriers-assistant-physicians https://idahofreedom.org/deregulation-part-2-the-great-medical-residency-bottleneck/ Timestamps 00:00 Introduction of Dr. Singer 00:22 Dr. Singer’s Background and Expertise 00:54 Understanding the Physician Shortage in Idaho 01:20 National Trends and Causes of Physician Shortage 02:59 Solutions to Combat the Physician Shortage 08:37 Exploring the Assistant Physician Model 11:07 The Journey to Become a Doctor: Traditional vs. Assistant Physician Path 19:29 Challenges and Opportunities for Assistant Physicians 29:09 The Future of the Physician Shortage in Idaho 33:45 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

When it comes to resisting media manipulation, never forget that either you control your mind or someone else will do it for you.

Who are the politicians and reporters who can be trusted to give you the facts and let you make up your own mind? In this episode we sift out the great pretenders from the authentic defenders of freedom.

The proper role of government is fundamentally rooted in the protection of life, liberty, and property. This Lockean principle underpins western philosophy of government and shaped our founders’ vision for our Republic. But it doesn’t take much scrutiny to see that our government, both at the state and federal levels, has abandoned this limited view of their role in our lives. Case in point: the latest iteration of Idaho’s state budget. Countless programs receive millions of dollars sourced from your paychecks to support things they never should be doing in the first place. This is money you could be spending on your own family to make ends meet. On this week’s episode of Fiscal Fridays, we decided to list the top five most ridiculous spending items from the 2024 legislative session. Sources Intro: 00:00 1. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/#:~:text=Locke%20used%20the%20claim%20that%20men%20are%20naturally,comfortable%20enjoyment%20of%20their%20lives%2C%20liberty%2C%20and%20property. 2. https://legislature.idaho.gov/lso/bpa/pubs/lbb/ Idaho Roadways: 01:02 3. https://idahofreedom.org/house-bill-770-idaho-transportation-department-supplementals-fy24-and-appropriations-fy25/ 4. https://idahofreedom.org/senate-bill-1189-transportation-department-appropriations-fy24-and-supplementals-fy23/ School Food Education: 01:45 5. https://idahofreedom.org/house-bill-762-state-department-of-education-appropriations-fy25/ 6. https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2021-03/Estimated_Budgetary_Effects_of_HR_1319_as_passed_0.pdf Open Source Research Funding: 02:27 7. https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2024/standingcommittees/240304_sedu_0300PM-Minutes_Attachment_2.pdf 8. https://www.nic.edu/elearning/open-education-resources-/ 9. https://www.cato.org/testimony/most-college-cost-fixes-miss-root-problem 10. https://idahofreedom.org/senate-bill-1455-health-and-welfare-public-health-services-appropriations-fy25/ 11. https://youtu.be/HnjaJepIWvM?si=PgtR4tfIYZqLZ-8h Gov Approved Parenting: 03:47 10. https://idahofreedom.org/senate-bill-1455-health-and-welfare-public-health-services-appropriations-fy25/ 11. https://youtu.be/HnjaJepIWvM?si=PgtR4tfIYZqLZ-8h No Farming Funding: 04:33 12. https://swc.idaho.gov/home-2/what-we-do/conservation-programs-2/conservation-reserve-enhancement-program/ 13. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/Conservation/PDF/2023/CRPMonthlyDecember2023WithPageNumbers.pdf Outro: 05:47 https://idahofreedom.org/24index/

The Freedom Index published by the Idaho Freedom Foundation is a handy tool to evaluate and distinguish good legislation from bad legislation. Of course, not everyone is cool with that.

How can you tell which candidates are living up to their professed principles and which are not? Pay attention to their actions and not the words or cowboy hats they're wearing.

Idahoans have been funding the Marxist cultural movement in Idaho’s colleges and universities, and the legislature has made virtually no progress toward curbing it. The legislature’s apathy toward the leftist takeover is particularly concerning for a red state. Several initiatives from Conservatives to curb the expansion of diversity, equity, and inclusion programming were killed this year. These include a policy bill to ban spending public funds on DEI and to fire DEI bureaucrats and moves in JFAC for a line item reduction to DEI spending. So, how did we get here, and what is next on the horizon for defending our state from a Marxist takeover? We will break this down on this week’s episode of Fiscal Fridays. Also, with the legislative session in the books be sure to request your FREE copy of the 2024 Freedom Index, by visiting https://idahofreedom.org/24index/. Sources Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Idaho Higher Education: https://idahofreedom.org/DEI/ Agency: https://legislature.idaho.gov/lso/bpa/budgetinformation/agency/?YEAR=2024&FA=2.Education&DEP=Education%2C+State+Board+of&DIV=College+and+Universities#hcode-tab-style2required-report House Bill 734: https://idahofreedom.org/house-bill-734-colleges-and-universities-appropriations-fy25/ HOUSE BILL 734: https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/H0734/

The leftist policies from California, Oregon, and Washington are here in Idaho, and you have been funding them! Unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch are the ones advocating for these destructive programs. And the Department of Health and Welfare is the most egregious example of this push to the left. The good news, however, is there’s a concerted effort in the Legislature to rein-in this out of control agency. Several of their programs have been cut, limited, or repealed this year, preventing you from funding the demise of Idaho’s hallmark conservative values. Link to: The Rogue Bureaucracy https://youtu.be/HnjaJepIWvM?si=bY9QTiktY53cXme7

From public policy like age appropriate materials in public libraries to real versus imaginary money, the legislature is giving us an object lesson in what's sound and what's unsound.

From a $4.7 million fiscal "oopsie" to the unsubstantiated accusations of "hate" in N. Idaho, it's clear that accountability is sorely lacking.

Three years ago, Dr. Ryan Cole warned us about the dangers of mandatory vaccines. History has proven him right, and for that he has been persecuted. Dr. Cole returns to Capitol Clarity on March 21.

There is no greater freedom than that of your own health and bodily autonomy. Yet that fundamental freedom has been under increasing attack in recent years. From mask and vaccine mandates to invasive schemes for surveillance and controls, governments at all levels are trying to micromanage your lives. This week we welcome Leslie Manookian of the Health Freedom Defense Fund. This is the organization that defeated President Joe Biden’s mask mandates in court. She will explain how Idaho can become a model for health freedom in America. Greg Glaser is a lead attorney for Children’s Health Defense, which fought plans for a Smart City in Los Angeles. He will explain the coming surveillance state and how liberty-minded people can oppose it.

The power-seekers and opportunists agitating for Ranked Choice Voting and an Open Primary claim to be the adults in the room. What does that say about how they see us?

Turns out the the rumors we've heard about RINOs roaming freely through the Idaho Statehouse are true. And apparently it's happening in a number of other Red states as well.

The Idaho Dept. of Health and Welfare is out of control. They seem to ignore legislative intent with impunity, raking in millions of dollars from Idaho taxpayers and national grants, then redistribute those to left-wing causes. What's going on? Niklas breaks it down in another episode of Fiscal Fridays. Support IFF's mission of reigning in state government: https://secure.anedot.com/idaho-freedom-foundation-inc/homepage

The push to enact open primaries and ranked choice voting in Idaho sounds like a political version of an unfaithful spouse saying, "I think we should see other people."

Control over how money is created, spent, and distributed is at the crux of the Left’s legal and cultural takeover of the United States. With the free market circumventing this tyrannical control through the adoption of Bitcoin, Idaho lawmakers should consider legislative action to protect this innovation in financial freedom. Read the whole article here: https://idahofreedom.org/why-should-the-idaho-legislature-make-bitcoin-freedom-a-priority-in-2024/