Harassment, threats and bullying are unacceptable when protests cross the line in Idaho

If you have to use bullying, harassment and intimidation to get your way, you might need to rethink your position.

We’ve seen this scenario repeated several times over the past couple of years in Idaho: a group of angry people don’t like a decision that is made, so they gather in large groups to yell, shout, bang on doors, call names, use vulgarities and otherwise use threats in an effort to get their way.

We’ve seen it play out in school board meetings, public health district meetings, the Idaho Capitol building and, yes, most notably, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

It seems that such incidents are growing in levels of anger and threatened violence.

This week, we saw it at the St. Luke’s hospital in downtown Boise involving a baby that was deemed malnourished and separated from his parents.

The grandfather of the baby is Diego Rodriguez, so-called “Freedom Man,” head of the Freedom Man political action committee, a supporter of Ammon Bundy and great friend to the so-called “freedom” movement in Idaho, especially the “health freedom” cause.

It’s little surprise that this case would get politicized.

Rodriguez’s grandson was taken into custody early Saturday morning after the 10-month-old baby’s parents — Rodriguez’s daughter and son-in-law — missed a medical appointment for the baby, who had been ill, vomiting and losing weight. The baby’s pediatrician considered the baby “dangerously underweight.”

Unfortunately, the case is now being used for political purposes, with terms like “medical kidnapping” and “medical tyranny” being bandied about. State legislators, promising legislation, showed up at a rally outside St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center over the weekend, and Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin is calling for the return of the baby to the family.

On Tuesday, Bundy, who leads a group called “People’s Rights,” called on his followers to descend upon the hospital in Boise because he said the baby was going to be transferred to foster care.

Given the hyperbole that is so often used with this group of people, it’s no surprise that some of these folks were whipped into a frenzy.

To vilify health care providers, the family of the baby wrote on a blog that St. Luke’s workers are “moronic imbeciles.” At a rally on Monday, Rodriguez called them “animals.”

In addition to categorizing this as a “medical kidnapping,” on Tuesday, supporters suggested that money and not the safety of the baby is behind all this.

“Unfortunately, our health care system seems to have changed from a patient-doctor relationship to a doctor-dollar sign relationship almost,” state Rep. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, said at a rally at St. Luke’s on Sunday, to a round of enthusiastic applause.

The hospital on Tuesday was forced to go into lockdown, and ambulances were diverted to other hospitals. Patients reported not being able to go to the hospital.

The protesters have stooped to calling out and naming the two police officers, a doctor and a social worker involved, releasing their home addresses and even handing out leaflets in their neighborhoods, ostensibly for the purpose of encouraging harassment.

These tactics, conspiracy-peddling and hyperbole are deplorable.

Bullying, harassing and threatening to get your way are not acceptable.