Get ready, Idaho. We’re headed into yet another forever war | Opinion

On the verge of another forever war

“Have you left no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” U.S. Army Attorney Joseph Welch asked that question of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy on June 9, 1954, and it marked the end of McCarthy’s anti-Communist campaign of cruelty and recklessness.

Today, I ask all Idahoans to pose that same question to President Donald Trump, and most importantly, to ourselves. We must:

• Force Trump to stop the war on Iran by denying any further military appropriations, including the new $200 billion request.
• Reassert the unique power of Congress to declare war. Otherwise, Cuba is likely next.
• Withhold all DHS funding until Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is fired. His mass deportation, warehousing and unwarranted detention of human beings is cruel, illegal and unconstitutional. Remember the shameful Minidoka Internment Camp for Japanese and Japanese-American people here in Idaho during World War II.

I am 69 years old and have lived in Idaho since 1994. I have a moral compass. Let’s break through Trump’s cover-up and obtain the complete release of all the Epstein files! We have not forgotten.

Will Browning, Nampa

Fixing Caesar Chavez Lane

A simple solution for what to do about Caesar Chavez Lane: Rename the road in honor of Delores Huerta.

Margaret Harloe, Boise

Stop IDLA funding cuts

I am writing to express concern over recent efforts to significantly reduce funding for Idaho Digital Learning (IDLA) and to restructure the program. The proposed cuts — growing from $10 million to $13.5 million — along with accompanying legislative changes, are troubling and risk undermining a program that plays a vital role in supporting students and schools across Idaho.

As a longtime Republican voter, I feel increasingly disconnected from a process that appears to overlook both public input and a full understanding of IDLA’s impact. My perspective is shaped by firsthand experience: My husband has worked with IDLA since 2003, and I have seen the dedication of its staff in going above and beyond to serve students, families and schools statewide.

IDLA has consistently filled critical gaps in Idaho’s education system with innovation and high standards. Decisions of this magnitude deserve careful consideration, transparency, and meaningful public engagement. Without that, these actions risk serious and far-reaching consequences for education in our state.

Elizabeth Patzer, Post Falls

ICE warehouses are a disgrace

The Department of Homeland Security, supported by our elected Republican president and legislators, is buying up mega warehouses for ICE “detention” centers. That is how the people of the United States welcome people less fortunate than us to our nation, we treat them like things.

Warehouses are a place for things, not people. Immigrants whether illegal or not are still People. We need to treat them with compassion, love, and respect. Treating them as things by racking them up in warehouses is cruel, inhumane and horrific.

In this case, we are the terrorists. We will all have to answer for and be accountable for the terror we are inflicting on our fellow human beings.

I have worked overseas and have always been welcomed into the homes of people a lot less fortunate than I am. I never once feared for my safety or being deported for being an “alien.” They treated me with friendliness, compassion, love and respect.

Why don’t we reciprocate? There may be some love left for Americans, but the respect is gone, and the hatred is growing. Thanks to MAGA we have become the pariahs of planet earth and the welcome mats have been rolled up for United States citizens.

Kurt Smith, Boise

Legislature failed to fix prior authorization

Idaho had the opportunity to fix issues with prior authorization. The bill didn’t make it out of committee.

Idaho House Business Committee heard HB841 that would have streamlined the poor authorization process statewide. It would have helped patients receive efficient access to care, reduce administrative burden for providers, and increase transparency and accountability from health insurance companies.

Thirty other states have passed similar legislation. The decision to not pass reform sends a message that it’s acceptable to make Idaho patients wait for care. Delays can be days, weeks or longer. While we wait, conditions worsen. Keeping the status quo means people stay in pain longer, missing work, income and quality time with family. Health care providers will continue to spend valuable time navigating the varied prior authorization processes for numerous health insurance companies.

This vote suggests that shielding insurance companies from inconvenience matters more than helping Idahoans receive timely access to care.

The committee’s decision is disappointing. However, it doesn’t change the reality that prior authorization burdens will persist and Idaho patients will have to continue waiting for care that should not be out of reach.

Laura Miller, Meridian

Escalating war costing Idahoans

Idaho is represented by some of the most powerful leaders in Congress, yet Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo and Rep. Mike Simpson are failing to protect Idahoans’ cost of living.

Gas prices continue to rise as the war with Iran escalate, yet Risch, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has remained silent. Food costs are also climbing, driven by inconsistent tariff policies and rising fuel and fertilizer prices. At the same time, all three supported eliminating health care subsidies that helped working Idahoans afford coverage.

Crapo, as chair of the Senate Finance Committee, warns about deficits, yet backed tax policies projected by the Congressional Budget Office to add roughly $3.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Annother $200 billion is being sought for the Iran war.

I have long respected Simpson for his conservation leadership and opposing the sale of public lands. But his support of these policies — and support for the Iran war — makes that support untenable.

Idaho deserves leaders who will stand independent of any president whose policies and, now an unprovoked war, harm our financial and national security.

Sarah Michael, Sun Valley