OPINION: When 'peace' is just a slogan

The greatest barrier to peace and human dignity is not disagreement — it’s leaders who don’t actually want peace: people in power who benefit from conflict.

It’s time for America, and specifically Kootenai County, to take a long, honest look in the mirror and ask an uncomfortable question: Do we actually stand for peace and human dignity?

If the answer is yes, we must push back against a president and his complicit party who say, “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

We say we want peace. We say we value human dignity. Here in North Idaho, many proudly profess Christian faith and the moral compass that comes with it.

And yet, that same majority aligns with a president whose Easter message was a profanity-laced temper tantrum that threatened war crimes if the Strait of Hormuz wasn’t opened immediately. The screed even sarcastically invoked the Muslim religion’s deity. 

Values are not defined by what we say, they are revealed by what we tolerate and who we choose to follow. We cannot claim to want peace but support a party that seeks war. We cannot profess faith while shrugging at cruelty.

Closer to home, Idaho lawmakers insist they are defending the dignity of human life. Meanwhile, the Idaho Republican Supermajority passes ill-informed laws that strip people of basic dignity. 

Consider the real-world impact of recent legislation regulating who can use which bathroom. A young mother may now hesitate before bringing her small son into a public restroom. A wife caring for a husband with Parkinson’s disease may wonder whether she can legally assist him. Transgender Idahoans — many of whom already navigate life under impossible choices — are left to choose between their safety and the risk of confrontation. With the passage of this law, people who appear masculine but were born female will be required to use women’s facilities, creating discomfort for everyone involved.

That does not promote dignity for anyone involved. 

As Idahoans, we also pride ourselves on hard work, self-reliance and opportunity. But those values ring hollow when we undermine the very systems that make them possible.

This legislative session, lawmakers advanced deep cuts to the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance and other virtual education programs — resources that thousands of students, particularly in rural communities, rely on to graduate. These resources are the definition of school choice. They are often lifelines for students who otherwise lack access to essential courses.

One lawmaker rightly pointed out that these programs help thousands and thousands of kids succeed where traditional systems fall short. Weakening them does not promote opportunity or the dignity that comes from obtaining an education. 

We must acknowledge that, amid these contradictions, there was one moment of Republican repentance in Idaho: Gov. Little restored some funding to Medicaid mental health treatment programs. 

The Assertive Community Treatment program and peer support services are designed to help people navigate mental health treatment, specifically for people who have struggled in routine treatment settings. The Legislature cut funding for these programs in January. Between then and today, when funding was restored, four patients died. In the 18 months before the cut, providers say just one patient died.

The decision to restore funding to this crucial program will save lives.

But we must also ask: Why did it take four people dying to act? Why are we so often reactive when it comes to protecting human life, rather than proactive?

This is the hypocrisy of the Republican Party: They offer thoughts and prayers in the aftermath of terror and loss but pave the way for that terror and loss to happen in the first place.

If we truly believe in dignity, in compassion, in opportunity, then our policies should reflect those values before harm is done, not after.

As we reflect on our elected leaders’ choices, it’s time for Idahoans to ask some hard questions about where our priorities lie. Do our actions match our words? Do our leaders reflect our values? And perhaps most importantly, are we willing to demand better?

Because a community’s character is not measured by what it claims to believe, but by what it is willing to stand up for.

• • •

Sarah Martin is chairman of the Kootenai County Democrats.