By Georgia Earley
Reader Contributor
As of November 2025, 60-70% of U.S. citizens said our country is headed in the wrong direction. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, since 1964 polls have shown more than 50% have had a lack of trust in our government with a few brief exceptions: February 1991, post-first Gulf War; January 1993, after President Bill Clinton’s inauguration; and for nine months following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
So why the dissatisfaction and distrust? One can easily point to fiscal policies that continually widen the gap between the wealthy and the poor, growing overt corruption and fragmented media fueling polarization. But it’s mostly because of us: our lack of civic education and our complacency.
Thomas Jefferson said, “An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.” Yet most U.S. citizens do not know the reasons the U.S. Constitution has endured longer than any other written national constitution. Most Idahoans don’t know that in 2025 the Idaho Legislature introduced 1,385 bills and have little knowledge of the 340 laws that it did pass.
Most concerning is that the majority of citizens have never attended a public meeting of city, county or state officials; don’t know who or what is on the ballot in local elections (even the primaries); and a huge percentage don’t vote at all.
Why does that matter?
The direction of our country is largely determined by citizen engagement and primary, rather than general, elections. So if you don’t like the direction the country is heading, attending public meetings and voting in primary elections are your best chances to change it — that’s where individual citizens’ influence is greatest.
Those who attend public meetings are often highly motivated and agenda-driven, so lawmakers listen to them because they show up and vote. And candidates who win primaries set their party’s direction for the next two to six years. By the general election, voters are left choosing between candidates who have already been shaped by the motivated few.
When fewer than 40% of U.S. citizens and less than 30% of Idahoans typically vote in national primaries, and even fewer attend public meetings, the few rule the many.
How can a country go in the right direction for the majority if the minority is calling the shots?
Furthermore, if primary candidates fear backlash from their base, they’ll resist compromise and push narrow agendas when elected. This breeds partisanship, which compromises both the democratic process and our constitutional freedoms.
If we continue to vote for lawmakers who we expect to “stand firm” for our agendas, we’ll continue to have increasingly wider swings to the right one election and to the left the next. And the more unyielding the party nominees for the general elections, the more partisan the politics.
We’ve seen partisanship intensify in Idaho after the Legislature closed Republican primaries in 2012. Closed primaries limit independent and moderate voters — who typically vote across party lines — to voting for candidates of a single party. This reduces the chances of more moderate candidates being elected and increases the influence of ideological extremes and partisanship.
How are we supposed to know where candidates stand on issues and what our Legislature is doing? Aside from briefings from elected officials at public meetings, government websites have voting records and legislative updates. Most importantly, we need to insist that our news sources include newsletters from, and interviews with, lawmakers and candidates across the political spectrum clearly outlining their priorities and positions on issues. If a news source doesn’t, switch — and tell them why.
If the majority chooses to be uneducated and complacent, and if we continue to choose uncompromising leaders who do not prioritize preserving a fair democratic process and our constitutional freedoms, we’ll continue breeding more partisanship, distrust and discontent.
In 1949, Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.” If we don’t want our country’s direction to reflect the priorities of only the minority, it’s up to us to put it back into the hands of the majority.
Georgia Earley is a Bonners Ferry resident.
