Monday January 2nd 2023 | Issue No. 18
The Rachel Report
Canyon County Republican Committeewoman
THIS MONTH’S LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
School Districts: In December, the Caldwell School Board proposed and is trying to pass a policy regarding gender identity and sexual orientation in the school district. This new policy redefines “sexual orientation,” “sexual identity,” “gender expression,” and “transgender” and allows students to use locker rooms and restrooms based on “the gender identity the [student] most expresses.” This policy would also make it so no student would be denied the “right” to attend any overnight school trips sponsored by the school district based on their “assigned biological sex.” In other words, biological males may attend the all-girls trips and stay in the girls’ dorms with the other biological females. The new policy would also require school employees to refer to a child by their “chosen gender identity” and refer to them by their chosen pronoun.
Upcoming Legislation: Strong bills have been written and are ready to go this session dealing with important topics such as grocery tax repeal, education choice, child access to pornography in schools, museums, and library’s; parental rights, exposing minors to drag shows, and many other critical issues. Follow these bills, contact legislators voicing your support or opposition to a bill, testify if possible… Your legislators are creating policy. Policy that will affect your children, the unborn, veterans, and parental decision making.
Policy is important. Stay informed.
The legislative session begins on January 9th. I cannot encourage you enough to be present at the Capitol the next three months. Also, whether your children are in the school district or not, I encourage you to attend the school board meetings in your area. Important policy is being proposed and decisions are being made, often without parents knowledge. I encourage you to sound the alarm! Protect children, regardless if they are your own.
Past Rachel Reports
The Rachel Report Issue # 17
The Rachel Report Canyon County Republican State Youth Chair THIS MONTH’S LEGISLATIVE UPDATES I had the privilege of attending the swearing in of the legislature last week and I wanted…
The Rachel Report Issue # 16
The Rachel Report Canyon County Republican State Youth Chair (Click on picture thumbnail to see full size image) Past Rachel Reports This Months Liberty Gem Dear Liberty Lovers, Happy November!…
This Months Liberty Gem
I want to talk a little bit about what Eighteenth Century historian Alexander F. Tytler referred to as the “Cycle of Nations.” Doubtless, you have heard this phrase before, but it is often focused on far less than it should be in academia.
After studying the rise and fall of nations, in 1771, Tytler identified a “pattern of predictability” for nation-states and offered that the life cycle of a nation spans approximately 200 years according to historical data.
He explained the Cycle of Nations as originating when a people find themselves in a place of bondage. Out of bondage comes a move toward faith. Out of faith grows courage, and courage leads to liberty. Abundance follows liberty but then a shift happens… from abundance comes selfishness. Out of selfishness, complacency. When a people has become complacent, they then become apathetic. From a place of apathy, dependence grows; and from dependence, people move back into the bondage from which they originally escaped and the cycle repeats.
In 1772, Tytler famously wrote in a journal article:
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.”
Sounds eerily like a foretelling of where America is right now right?
Well, the Founding Fathers took Tytler’s observations about democracy and nation-states into consideration when separating powers, creating a governing structure, and penning the Constitution. They created a government unlike any other the world had ever known. They looked at successful models of government in the past, but identified that they were all missing one fundamental point: that all men are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” and among these rights are life, liberty, and property.
So they created a government incorporating this fundamental feature… and it was created to last.
But as Reagan so beautifully put it nearly 200 years later in 1967, “freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it, have never known it again.”
Freedom is fragile and I think we as a people have forgotten that.
It is easy for us to look at Tytler’s Cycle and insert American history and current events. Historians who have analyzed our nation within this context generally agree on this breakdown for the United States:
Bondage- 1576-1630 (Separatists and Puritans left Europe in search of religious liberty).
Spiritual Faith- 1630-1730 (Colonization and civil government was created [Mayflower Compact]. Once the people were out of bondage, deep faith abounded).
Courage- 1730’s-1770 (People progressed in spiritual enlightenment through increased education and movements such as the Great Awakening. This and the French and Indian War set the stage for the need for independence).
Liberty- 1770-1800- (Complete freedom is achieved through bloodshed, the American Revolution. Independence in 1776, formation of government, and adoption of the Constitution).
Abundance- 1800-1967 (Liberty and free trade bring abundance in wealth accumulation, production, natural resource development, rich agriculture, industrialization, mass production, medical innovation, financial independence, technological advancements, thriving church communities, and a flourishing culture).
Selfishness- 1967-1979 (Political protests, radical experimentation, and cultural experiences such as the sexual revolution. It was around this time that Eastern religions began to flourish in the West and political disillusionment spread like wildfire amongst the young. There was a marked shift to a materialistic and consumption-oriented lifestyle).
Complacency- 1980-2007 (Complacency is a feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy. Full of abundance, a people forget trials and bondage).
Apathy- 2008-2012 (Apathy may be defined as a lack of interest or concern especially regarding matters of general importance of appeal. Indifference. Youth divorced from the political system and uninterested in politics or spirituality).
Dependence- 2012-present (Work ethic is lost, sense of entitlement, receiving something for nothing [socialistic mindset], sense of “deserving” government assistance).
So where are we headed?
Bondage again.
Can we stop it?
Absolutely, without a doubt.
Why? Because our government was built to last. Our nation was built on a covenant with God (John Winthrop and the Puritans).
But it’s time to wake up the other lions.
Dear Liberty Lovers,
Happy New Year!
Can you believe it is 2023?!
I am so excited for the work God is going to do this year! I hope and pray each of you had a rejuvenating time of celebration and rest over the holidays, I know I certainly did!
This Report will be brief. I wanted to begin this year by reminding us how sweet liberty is, how easy it is to lose it, and that keeping it or losing it is in our power.
As I stated in my last report, 2023 is a critical year for Idaho. Conservatives have a lot of potential ground we are poised to take in policy creation. If our legislators fulfill the promises they made while campaigning… Idaho will look far more conservative in 2024 and we will be poised to win BIG in the ’24 primaries.
We have to prepare Idahoans this year so we don’t lose again in 2024. This year we need to educate, involve, encourage, and connect with voters- Republican, Independent, or Unaffiliated- and help them get involved. This year the Church needs to get involved.
One of my favorite things John Adams said was “you will never know how much it cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it.”
I think a major reason the United States is in the condition it is currently in, is because we have forgotten the cost of freedom. This generation has become so accustomed to freedom that it has become apathetic and dependent.
We have to work to keep Idaho.
We have to work to keep America.
We have to work to keep liberty.
Let’s work to pull our nation from our current spot of dependence back to a place of liberty.
But that work starts now friends. In your homes, in your communities… in your CHURCH. None of us can do this alone. God has given each of us specific gifts, talents, blessings, and passions. Let’s use them to get our state back on track and save our country.
I know that asking for involvement seems like a big ask and I realize better than most that getting involved can be scary. But friends, we the Church are called to do scary things sometimes.
We have to ask ourselves, will we take a stand now?
Or do we have to be in bondage again before we act.
Sometimes it’s difficult to know how to get involved. Well, I’m here to help you or your neighbor, or your pastor get involved. There are so many ways that you can take action, in so many capacities around your church, community, and state. Call me or email me. Let’s have lunch or coffee. I’ll meet with you and your pastor, your women’s group, your Bible study… Come to the Capitol with me…I’ll be there at least twice a week for the whole session.
Waiting until election season to get involved is too late. The foundation must be laid before construction of the house.
We the People have the responsibility to keep our state and country on track…after all, it is us who are supposed to be in the driver seat…not politicians and powerful corporations.
This year, let’s remind our legislators who they work for, keep our politicians accountable to their word, the constitution, the Republican platform, the people and to God; and focus on unity, truth, justice, and liberty.
I wanted to share this prayer written by John Wesley in 1755. I prayed it over my life in the moments after the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2023.
This is my prayer for me this year and I encourage you to make it yours too as you fight the good fight and stand against evil.
“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”
~John Wesley, 1755
I pray blessing, strength, hope, courage, peace, discernment, and protection over each of you this year.
It’s time to work Idaho.
Let’s keep Idaho, Idahome!
For Idaho,
Rachel Hazelip
“Our unalterable resolution should be to be free.” ~ Samuel Adams, 1776
How To Contact Rachel
Love is the essential component of existence. God has created everything out of love. Therefore brothers and sisters I encourage you to do everything in love, love to God, love to yourself, and love to your neighbor.
God is the greatest politician ever to be known, His government is build on the foundation of love, His rules and regulations are designed to make us love Him, ourselves, and each other.
Thus, I encourage you all to not be afraid to be involved in politics. There many examples in the Bible about men and women being spiritual and loyal to God yet their calling was to be involed in politics such as Esther the queen, Daniel the prophet, Joseph son of Jacob, and may others, and all were successful due to their obedience to God. It’s not strange at all that God will gift you and according to his will to employ these gifts to impact filed of politics. Let us continue praying so God may reveal His desire for us and lead us in the path of righteousness for the sake of His holy name. The Lord may bless you all, in Jesus’ name. Amen!