Idahoans shouldn’t be fooled any longer by Idaho’s so-called limited-government advocates

The hypocrisy among Idaho’s most ardent small-government advocates was on full display last week, as we learned that many of them accepted federal government bailouts in the form of Paycheck Protection Program loans.

It is now quite clear that the principles of limited government they espouse are just a matter of convenience. They begrudge government spending in the form of Medicaid expansion, which helps low-income Idahoans, but they’re OK with government spending when their own businesses need a helping hand.

Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin reportedly received $314,727. The Idaho Freedom Foundation received $129,883. In addition, Idaho Freedom Foundation’s board members took their own piece of the pie, totaling more than $2 million in all.

“But that’s the rules of the road,” IFF board member and Idaho Falls attorney Bryan Smith told Boise State Public Radio. “That’s what our government chose to do, and we were hit by COVID like other businesses.”

It’s a sentiment echoed in the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s justification for taking the federal handout.

“The government shut down Idaho’s economy, Idaho businesses and therefore the donors who we depend on to generously support our work,” said the foundation’s statement, attributed to its president, Wayne Hoffman.

But based on the conservative, libertarian, small-government policies that the Freedom Foundation espouses, one might suggest that the Freedom Foundation pull itself up by its bootstraps and simply work harder to find other donors, rather than rely on a handout from the federal government.

During a special session of the Idaho Legislature in August, state Rep. Mike Moyle, R-Star, House majority leader, gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the House, urging his fellow legislators to be careful about accepting federal money.

“I refuse, when we talk about money, refuse to sell my liberties for money,” he said, talking specifically about the state accepting $1.25 billion in coronavirus relief money. “I refuse to be blackmailed for money, and I refuse to sell my state and my blessings of my family and everything else for some federal freaking check. Don’t do it.”

But then Moyle, himself, did do it. He received a $10,000 check as part of the state’s distribution of federal grant dollars to small businesses.

When it comes to one measure that has proven to be effective in slowing the spread of coronavirus — a mask mandate — McGeachin, the Idaho Freedom Foundation and others actively worked against it.

Following the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s “Disobey Idaho” campaign and messaging that the government shouldn’t tell you to wear a mask, many Idahoans are still railing against mask use. They have turned it into a political issue, stormed public meetings without wearing masks, held mask-burning protests, threatened public officials who passed mask mandates, and intimidated other public officials into not passing mask mandates.

Had organizations like the Idaho Freedom Foundation and politicians like McGeachin jumped on board in those early days and encouraged widespread mask use, perhaps our economy would not have suffered as much as it has, far fewer Idaho lives would have been lost, and their reliance on federal government handouts would be greatly diminished.

One thing has been made abundantly clear by these disclosures. These folks have a guiding light in all things: what is best for them, whether it is politically or economically.

The public should remember this when these people try to bamboozle them in the future, because what these folks are telling you is that small government is good for you, but big government is good for them.

Humbug seems an especially appropriate word this time of year.