Op-Ed: The GOP Gets Results

I know politics can be infuriating. Believe me-as an original Tea Partier, I understand the frustration many of you feel with our government. So I get it when I hear people say the system is broken and we need to try something new. But let me tell you right now: a third party is not the answer.

As a volunteer, a state representative, and now your Idaho GOP chair, I know the Republican Party inside and out, warts and all. I often feel the same frustration with the system, like I’m slamming my head into a brick wall. But mark my words: there is no better vehicle for promoting conservative principles and defending traditional values than the Republican Party.

The GOP has experienced fierce internal policy debates since Day 1, when antislavery advocates gathered in Ripon, Wisconsin, to form a new political party. Republican champions have ranged from the progressive Theodore Roosevelt to the conservative Ronald Reagan, yet we have always stood for faith, family, and freedom in America.

Anyone claiming the two parties are essentially the same is just blowing smoke. The opposing party today stands for censorship of free speech, totalitarian government mandates, open borders, racial and ethnic division, and a radical gender ideology that threatens to destroy our children’s innocence.

The Republican Party stands firmly on the other side. In just the first six months of President Trump’s second term, we’ve seen renewed efforts to protect speech, roll back government mandates, secure the border and deport those here illegally, restore national unity, and safeguard our children’s innocence.

Republicans in Congress just passed a major bill delivering real results: massive tax relief for working families, increased funding for border enforcement, nationwide school choice, work requirements for able-bodied adults on Medicaid, and elimination of taxpayer subsidies for “green energy” schemes, DEI programs, and Planned Parenthood.

Here in Idaho, Republicans in the Legislature just wrapped up a tremendous session. Many of our top priorities were passed into law. We protected women’s spaces from men who identify as female. We passed the Medical Freedom Act to defend citizens and workers from unconstitutional mandates. We banned local mask mandates. We stopped tax dollars from being used for soda and candy via SNAP benefits. We passed Idaho’s first real school choice program. And we delivered more than $400 million in tax cuts.

If you support the Second Amendment, the GOP is your party. If you want to protect the unborn, the GOP is your party. If you stand for faith, family, and freedom, then the GOP is your party. If you believe in America, then the GOP is your party.

Have we accomplished everything you and I want to see? Of course not. But we’re moving in the right direction. Let’s have the debates—and then work together to keep Idaho and America free.