Our governor put us at risk when he didn’t prepare for wildfire season. That’s just another part of his multi-year work to take away our freedom.

The risk Mr. Little has put us in brings to mind the first time I saw a person jump from the Twin Falls Perrine bridge. I was shocked. A young man hauled himself over the bridge-rail, stared 500 feet down at the Snake River and then dove. It was breathtaking to see a person do something so dangerous.

Now, while I don’t want my kids doing anything like that, I am not one to limit our choices, risky or otherwise. I grew up in Pocatello. When my family used public lands, we always assumed an elevated level of risk. Whitewater rafting, snowmobiling, riding ATVs, hunting or hiking — it all comes with some danger.

Sure, I think basejumpers do a poor job of balancing risk with reward, but that’s their business; just like hiking through bear country with a fishing pole in hand is my business.

But Mr. Little is not only unconcerned with risks — like the chance of a parachute not opening or bear spray missing the mark — he’s not even giving us any say in the matter.

I’ll put it this way: Mr. Little just grabs us without asking and tosses us off a bridge. Worse, after we hit, he complains when we don’t thank him for the lovely view he treated us to.

That’s this wildfire season in a nutshell. Mr. Little left Idaho exposed to the risk of wildfires raging unchecked on public and private lands. I am confident none of us want wildlife and livestock to perish in flames. We don’t want houses and barns to burn. We prefer to stay alive. That’s the liberty he took away. We didn’t choose to be unprepared; he made that decision for us.

To be clear, I am not saying that all the smoke choking Idaho is Mr. Little’s fault. Wildfires this summer were inevitable. In fact, this winter, fire experts and climate scientists warned us that we were in for a nasty fire season.

I am blaming Mr. Little for ignoring the warnings.

At one point, it took public outcry to get the Legislature not to cut Idaho Department of Lands wildland firefighters. That agency fights fire on 9 million acres of federal, state and private lands.

Instead of preparing for wildfires, Mr. Little busied himself in protecting his billionaire tax cuts.

Remember those? In 2025, Little slashed $400 million in state revenue. The lion’s share of Mr. Little’s tax “relief” went to the top 20 % wealthiest. But I don’t think anyone, rich or poor, is “relieved” that Mr. Little has left homes and families exposed to flames.

Right now, Mr. Little is telling anyone who will listen that Idaho is in great financial shape. (Demanding that we thank him for the lovely view we get as we fall.) At the same time, the IDL has zero dollars in its budget to fight wildfires. This deficiency comes at the beginning of what may be a record-setting bad year for fires.

Take a whiff of Idaho’s air. That’s the smell of bad leadership and betrayal. That’s the smell of liberty burning away.

And, not for nothing, I recall seeing a news report of firefighters with the Sand Hollow Fire Protection District west of Caldwell asking for donations of bottled water and food “as firefighters continue working long hours to protect lives, homes, and property during ongoing wildfire activity.”

Some of that $400 million tax “relief” would have bought a lot of bottled water. Idahoans need leaders who care about us more than they care about their wealthy handlers.