Idaho Lowers Flags-- Proclaims "Day Of Tears"

A resolution encouraging residents to "mourn the innocents" lost to abortions by flying flags at half staff easily passed the Idaho House (48-20) last week after passing the State Senate earlier.

The bill designates every January 22 as the "Day of Tears" on which "citizens of Idaho" are encouraged to lower their flags to half staff to mourn the innocents who have lost their lives to abortion.

The State Representative who sponsored the bill says she hopes the practice will not be needed soon.

Be informed, not misled.

KTVB 7 News reported "Republican Rep. Barbra Ehardt is sponsoring the idea" to “acknowledge the loss of life from the millions of unborn children since the supreme court's decision in Roe v. Wade.”

In the resolution, Ehardt lays out a way she would like to honor the occasion. It reads:

“That January 22, in perpetuity, hereby be recognized as the Day of Tears in Idaho and that the citizens of Idaho be encouraged to lower their flags to half-staff to mourn the innocents who have lost their lives to abortion.”

Ehardt kicked off the initial debate, explaining her idea.

“What we're actually doing is we are creating a day of remembrance, it's helping us to remember an egregious wrong that's been perpetrated on our kids, on the United States. And I hope we don't have to continue to remember it because I believe that in less than a year from now, we are going to be able to celebrate because the laws are going to be changed and it's going to be sent back to the states as it should. That is my hope,” Ehardt said during the debate.

Rep. Ehardt is, of course, referring to the expected challenge to Roe v. Wade at the Supreme Court. If the court reversed the landmark case, clearly legalized abortion would be all but gone as we've known it.

The Idaho Legislature did the right thing, but Democrats objected.

Idaho democrats responded in debate to push back on the idea, specifically the part that involved lowering flags. The debate for critics of the idea wasn’t centered on abortion or reproductive rights, but instead, on respecting the American flag.

Ehardt told the left, "This isn't a cheap ploy. This is about putting us in a position to remember. And in our own way, doing something about it."

Opponents charged the Republicans with "politicizing the flag."

“Is this the path we want to take as political parties that we hijack and use this as a billboard to carry some political, divisive message? This flag deserves so much more respect. And by taking advantage of it and using it to spew whatever divisive message you want is a complete, shameful, disrespectful action to this flag and the people who fought for it?"

Who knew the left loved the flag so much?

"This isn't about whether you're pro-life or pro-choice. … Your vote today should not be informed in any way, shape, or form by your feelings about abortion and its legality," said House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, a Democrat. "This is about the proper treatment of our flag. Period. Full stop."

The resolution, Ehardt said, is not forcing anyone to lower the flag. "It's mourning and remembering the approximate 63 million unborn babies that have been killed." 

"For private businesses to consider lowering their flags at half-staff, there's no mandate," Ehardt said. "There's nothing that would fly in the face of honoring others who pass on, but we will admit that we lowered that flag for many reasons, and to honor a large segment who's no longer here, I believe, would be a good use of those who would like to join in with this."

This kind of thinking may be one of the reasons so many are moving to Idaho.

However, legislatures in West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas have passed similar resolutions.

Takeaway

Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal last summer. In the article, she makes the case that the progressives are way overplaying their hand--in business matters, education, and generally in cultural beliefs---their worldview.

In the article, she quotes a Democrat journalist who agrees with her. His piece was titled, "If you hate cultural wars, blame liberals."

He cites data on issues from abortion and religion to guns, same-sex marriage, immigration, and taxes, concluding "that over the past two decades Democrats have moved left far more than Republicans have moved Right. She notes the journalist isn't unhappy about the move to the left but is concerned that the left has moved further away from median voters."

She concludes: 

I end with what I think is the left’s misreading of its position. They act as if they’ve got everyone on the run, including those who show their movement the greatest respect in corporate suites and private offices. But I think something unspoken is going on. As a journalist based in New York, you meet a lot of executives, corporate leaders, people in the arts and education. They publicly support the woke regime, speak the lingo, are on board with the basic assumptions, and much early support was sincere. But they have grown indignant at and impatient with the everyday harassments of woke ideology. Deep down, many of them would like to see the left knocked back on their feet. I think the left is overplaying its hand.

I agree. And this may well be the way in which God is beginning to turn the hearts and minds away from the secular, humanist ideology that is destroying our country.

I pray it is.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.