I want to tell you why I’m running for Idaho state representative, but first I want to remind us how our Founders intended for us to keep our government in check.

The Founding Fathers understood the weakness of human nature and so devised a system of checks and balances to prevent the centralization of power. They divided our government into three branches, each with separate and distinct powers to check the others. They also divided our government vertically, separating the national, state, and local governments. However, they understood that their elaborate system could fail and that ultimately the final check on the government was and is the people themselves.

The Founding Fathers gave us a Republic where “We the People” choose representatives to perform the legitimate functions of the government. The government is not an agent unto itself. We created it and it exists to protect our rights and it does this by the “consent of the governed.”

Such a system requires trust.

What we are experiencing today is a crisis of trust. America is unraveling and freedom is decaying due to the poisoning of trust.

For years in Idaho, we have sent Republicans to Boise to represent us. We did this believing that those who carried the Republican banner believed in God-given rights and limited government. We did this trusting that those who wore the Republican Party uniform would fight for our freedom and represent the interests of the people.

We trusted but failed to verify and now we are paying the price.

Our state, our Legislature, is essentially a one-party state. The GOP controls all statewide offices and has overwhelming majorities in the house and senate, but we are governed as if we lived in Colorado.

During the pandemic, those who are supposed to protect our rights shut down businesses, imposed mask mandates and the result was that thousands of Idaho citizens lost their jobs or had their jobs threatened by vaccine mandates. We have cultural Marxist ideologies being taught in our public schools and universities. Radical sex, race and gender ideologies that have no place in American classrooms.

The issue of trust is at the heart of this election. When I looked at the voting record of my opponent, I saw that, even though he is a part of the Republican Party, his voting record is not in line with the Republican platform. He has routinely voted against protecting our freedom. He voted over 30 times to expand the size, scope and power of government. He has voted to increase fees on everything from hunting and fishing to driver’s licenses and snowmobiling, and he has voted to create more boards and commissions to further stifle our businesses with unnecessary government regulation.

I am running for office to restore trust in our representatives and our Republic. My commitment is simple. I will tell you what I believe and vote accordingly. My votes in the Legislature will match our party platform and the values of our community and our party.

The preamble to Idaho Republican Party platform reads, in part:

“We are republicans because:

“We believe the strength of our nation lies with our faith and reliance on God our Creator, the individual, and the family; and that each person’s dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.

‘We believe in American Exceptionalism and that the United States of America is unlike any other country on earth.

“We believe human life begins at conception and is protected by the unalienable rights endowed by our Creator along with the fundamental right to life and shall not be infringed upon.”

I will be a lawmaker who does not just say he’s a conservative. My actions will match the beliefs that I espouse. I will vote to protect our freedom. I will be on the floor to vote when there is a bill on the floor that helps to defend the defenseless babies in the womb.

I will fight for your freedom, opposing any attempts to restrict your right to work; to support your family. I will act and I will work for you. I will never go along with the idea that what you do to earn a living is, “nonessential.”

The time for talk has passed, now is the time for action. The time of weak Republicans who say one thing and do another must end.

I ask you to join with me in restoring our party, our state and our Republic. Join me in fulfilling the sacred duties entrusted to us by our Creator and the Founders of our country. Let us band together to restore and preserve the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.

Craig Yadon is a candidate for the Idaho State House of Representatives.