19 February 2022

What Does John Fuller Mean?

Guest Essay By Kyle Waterman

In a recent piece, state Rep. John Fuller (R HD-8, Kalispell), a former teacher of American Government for more than 45 years, revealed that he believes democracy is a tyranny that has “failed as miserably as socialism.”

What exactly does Rep. Fuller mean when he says democracy is tyrannical and has failed us? The Founding Fathers designed our form of government to protect from tyranny. They also framed the Constitution on the very core of democracy — the idea that, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” In American democracy, that means fair and free elections.

If Mr. Fuller believes that democracy has failed, where does he think the government should derive its power? Military force? Surveillance? Coercion? Disinformation? Because that is how authoritarian governments do it — and that’s real tyranny.

Whatever the case, I think John Fuller should say what he really means: that his contempt for democracy is really a contempt for fair and free elections.

In the same piece, John Fuller writes that liberals and progressives are taking over at the local level by “establishing that elections of such offices be nonpartisan (so the People wouldn’t know their affiliations)…” As he has said elsewhere, the Rep. believes that local elections should be partisan. As a locally-elected official myself for the last few years, I can tell you Mr. Fuller doesn’t understand local issues. Local leaders cannot rely on party politics and that’s for good reason. Washington, D.C. cannot advise us on the challenges we face as a community. Capitol Hill cannot guide us on how we should decide our future.

When the national level invades local politics, parties are argued, not ideas. Hateful and angry rhetoric is exchanged, not solutions. We’re already seeing the result of that: devastating division over issues that should have never been politicized in the first place. The library board of trustees should not serve a party; it should serve the People. The health board should not serve a party; it should serve the People. School boards and all others should never serve any political party’s agenda. We, the People, should have representation on these boards who believe in the institutions they are supposed to represent.

I don’t know why Rep. Fuller believes we should vote based on party instead of the merit of ideas, but I think we can do better. I don’t know why he thinks democracy has failed, but I believe in fair and free elections. I believe in the People and their right to have their voices heard, no matter where they fall on the issues. No matter if they are a Republican or a Democrat. I believe local candidates should debate and argue ideas, not party politics. And I believe our leaders and politicians can serve the People better if they’d just put politics aside and put Kalispell first.

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Kyle Waterman is a candidate for Senate District 4 (map). Readers can learn more by going to www.kyle4kalispell.com.

Note by James Conner. Fuller taught at Flathead High School in Kalispell. He lives near Whitefish.