Idaho

Op-Ed: Compromise Politics – Do We Become More Free When We Compromise?

Published

1 year ago

July 8, 2024

Op-Ed: Compromise Politics – Do We Become More Free When We Compromise?

As I ponder this question, I cannot think of a single instance where compromise has made us better. Have we lessened our debt through compromise? Have we stopped shedding the blood of innocent unborn children because of compromise? Has education improved? Have we stopped the sodomy of our youth? How about protecting our lands, our borders, our water, our liberties, our freedoms—have these been safeguarded through compromise? How about gun control? Compromise will always infringe on the Second Amendment. Can you think of one thing that has improved because of compromise?

Did our Founding Fathers compromise to give us our Constitutional Republic? One of the fiercest arguments was over congressional representation—should it be based on population or divided equally among the states? The framers compromised by giving each state one representative for every 30,000 people in the House of Representatives and two representatives in the Senate. They agreed to count enslaved Africans as three-fifths of a person. Slavery itself was a thorny issue that threatened to derail the Union. It was temporarily resolved when the delegates agreed that the slave trade could continue until 1808.

They counted Africans as three-fifths of a person. Going back to the definition of compromise—“accept standards that are lower than desirable”—this would be a difficult compromise for me, to say someone is less than a person. Did we get the Constitution ratified because of this compromise? Yes, we did, but we later fought a Civil War to recognize their full humanity. Compromise always comes at a cost later.

Compromising on what song will be our National Anthem, what our State Flag will look like, or how many days we will be in session—these are compromises I can be flexible on. However, when it comes to compromising on life, suggesting that some are less than human, or compromising my morals, principles, or integrity, that is something I will protect and defend.

Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4

If you can think of one instance in the last ten years where compromise has protected life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, please share.

This Op-Ed was written by Idaho Senator Glenneda Zuiderveld and originally published on Substack. Op-Eds do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of those at the Idaho Dispatch.

Tags: 2A, Abortion, Border, Compromise, Constitutional Republic, Education, Founding Fathers, Guns, Idaho Legislature, Land, Politics, Second Amendment, Senator Glenneda Zuiderveld, Water

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Idaho

Looking forward to another year of East Idaho Sports – East Idaho News

Published

6 hours ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

Looking forward to another year of East Idaho Sports – East Idaho News

Note: As a bonus to our readers who have followed us into Year 2, the East Idaho Sports staff will post a special story on Sundays – Could be a column, opinion, feature, or just something fun and goofy. Hope you enjoy, and thanks again for coming along on this journey.

EASTERN IDAHO — Dec. 31 marked the end of the first full calendar year of East Idaho Sports. It has been a pleasure to bring our readers coverage of local youth, high school, college and semi-pro sports.

Over the last 12 months, we have covered state champions, national champions, junior hockey league champions, record-breaking performances and so much more. Those of you who have followed along since we launched in August 2024 have seen how we have expanded our coverage to include some interactive features like this Sunday Special series, Game Balls and the Photo of the Week voting.

We look forward to the completion of the winter sports seasons — including some Winter Olympics stories — spring sports, the summer sports schedule and returning next fall to start it all over again.

But we also hope to continue adding to our coverage, and shine spotlights on even more of the great athletes and sports programs in eastern Idaho.

In order to do that, we would like some help.

With just two full-time reporters and one freelance photographer we will regrettably miss things. And while we try to fill those gaps ourselves, we are always open to tips.

If there was a sporting event or sports story that deserved coverage it didn’t receive, please email us at sports@eastidahonews.com. If there is an upcoming event that should be spotlighted, please email us.

Also, our Photo of the Week stories will continue to be posted midday every Monday. If you have photos from a local sporting event that you want to enter in the running, email those to us by Sunday morning. For those who follow the voting — on our public Facebook group East Idaho News – Sports — a reader-contributed photo was recently selected our Photo of the YEAR, and we would love to continue adding those on the weekly ballot.

This photo of West Jefferson’s Justus Burtenshaw during the first round of the state tournament, taken by reader Julie Hall, was selected out East Idaho Sports Photo of the Year.

Finally, we recently added a regular feature we are calling the “Whip-around”: A quick rundown of local high school sports action. In order to expand these stories to include more teams, we would love for coaches, players or parents to send us photos of game scorebooks. If you are linked to a local team and would like your team to be added to these stories, please email us, and we can let you know how to do so.

It has been a pleasure to highlight the many local athletes for their successes and hard work, and we look forward to another year of precisely that.

We will see you at a field, court, course, pool, etc., near you in 2026.