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Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a

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moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith.

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And today, I'd like to challenge you to become politically active in your area, not running

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for president, not running for dog catcher, but just getting active in your own local political

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sphere. And to encourage you along those lines, I have with me today, Mr. Paul Lewer from Ada

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County, where, of course, Boise sits. And he is a local precinct committeeman in Ada County.

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And he is a dynamic and vivacious man whose enthusiasm is infectious. And don't look at

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me as if you don't know who I'm talking about there, Paul. But Paul is here with us today

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to kind of give us a brief job description of what he's been doing and how effective he's

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been in Ada County. And hopefully this will encourage you as well to become active in our

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own area in Bonneville County. So, Paul, welcome to our podcast today.

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Thank you so, so much. I am super excited to get to be here and looking forward to chatting.

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Yes, we are too. We want to just get a general philosophical overview and a bit and then make

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sure that you tell us how we can practically get involved. The guy in the street, because as you

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say, the low-hanging fruit is waiting there for those who show up.

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That's right.

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And all of us can do that. Let me cite, first of all, just taking a broad philosophical overview

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first, Paul. Let me read from an article from Touchstone magazine, just a great journal if you're

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not familiar with it. So, if you get a chance to lay your hands on this, listeners, any issue of

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Touchstone. But I, in particular, am looking at the one from Summer 2025, and it is America After

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Christianity. And the subtitle is Neo-Paganism's Dark Enchantment. And it's written by John Daniel

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Davidson, America After Christianity. And in part, it says that the West has entered a new

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post-Christian era. What does that mean exactly? To begin with, it means Christian morality will no

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longer shape our public life. It also means we will no longer desire or seek out Christians

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for positions of leadership in society. In fact, we will consider sincere Christians to be bigots

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and fascists, unfit for positions of public trust. This opinion has already been widely adopted by the

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mainstream left, and on certain subjects, it is now being adopted by the mainstream right.

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In sum, the de-Christianization of America means that the mainstream culture in our country will not

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simply be secular or neutral toward Christians. It will be actively hostile towards the Christian faith.

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Unquote. Now, Paul, you have been a real evangelist for recruiting evangelical Christians,

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believing Christians, outspoken in their faith, for public office. And tell us how you got into that

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sphere, and what your passion is for getting Christians into the public sphere.

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Well, thank you. Yes. So, I've actually lived in Idaho since I was about seven years old.

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So, I consider it very much home. And I have often wondered over the decades why Idaho,

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who is, I guess, in name, and perhaps if you look at kind of the status of, say, who's holding office

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in the state legislature, who has the governor's office, we're supposed to be a quite Republican

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and conservative state. And I've wondered over the years, why and how is it that, given that reality,

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we have such a difficult time so often passing legislation, enacting laws that are good laws,

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that reflect God's nature and character, that honor him. And so, that's always puzzled me.

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And I guess, I continue to be puzzled right up through the 2022 primary, when, just by God's

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providence, I was speaking with a gentleman who was working daily down at the State House during

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the legislative session. And through him, I got quite the education. So, when I showed up to vote

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in the primary, I thought I was quite in the know. Well, I got to the end of my ballot, and there was

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this little thing called precinct committeeman. And there were two names there. And it was very

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troubling to me, because I thought I was very much in the know, but I didn't even know what this

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particular thing was on my ballot. And so, the very next day, I went and asked this person,

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who was, again, in the State House daily. And I asked him, I said, hey, what is a precinct

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committeeman? And what he, when he started to explain what it was, and we'll get there, but

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in a moment, the riddle had been answered. The mystery of how and why Idaho politics was the way

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it was, was answered. So, it turns out that precinct committeemen are an extremely important

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piece in how the body politic works, not only in Idaho, but this is actually the case I believe in

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in all 50 states. But it went a long way to describing the particular dynamic that we have

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here in, in Idaho. So, that's kind of my introduction as to how I got involved. And then

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after that, really, in the explanation of what a precinct committeeman was, I saw a huge promise,

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a huge opportunity. So, I showed up at the very next Ada County Republican Central Committee

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meeting, which is a bit of a mouthful, but basically, it's just all the, the, the duly

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elected precinct committeemen. And, and they are who the registered party members elect within their

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own precincts. And so, it's just the, the, the deliberative body that gathers together of,

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of all of those, they're, they're representing the Republicans in their precincts. And so,

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showed up at this meeting of Republicans. And that's when the real learning started.

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A precinct is just about the, the, the smallest division of, of a, of a, of a, of a party's

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bailiwick, isn't it?

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That's right. So, so precinct is used, they're actually established by the secretary of state in a,

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in a, you know, apportionment process. It's kind of like, you know, congressional districts

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at the federal level are by populations. And so, here in Idaho, what, what, it's not actually a

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party first thing. It's used by the secretary of state to administer elections, but the parties found

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it very convenient to piggyback or to use that infrastructure, those divisions to, to govern

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the party. So, the precinct is something that the Republican party, and I think every other

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registered party in the state of Idaho is, is using, um, to, uh, to be the foundational,

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um, geographic geopolitical division on which everything else stands.

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And how many, um, in terms of population does each precinct represent them?

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Yeah, good question. So, I, I want to say that, uh, each precinct is roughly a thousand households,

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but, uh, don't quote me on that. Um, it's, it's, it's somewhere in that number though.

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Yeah, but relatively small. Relatively small. To give you, yeah, to give you a little context,

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I'm more or less in the middle of Boise, but my precinct is roughly, um, a quarter mile wide

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by a half mile long. Um, if you live in rural Idaho, obviously you can have a pretty large

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geographic area to get a thousand households, but, you know, these are people that, uh, that

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you live with, that, that you shop with, that you go to church with, that you, you know.

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So you, you can at least theoretically be pretty close to the ground, know your people

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and, uh, respond and so forth.

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That's right. That's right. That's the, that's the, the, the intent. Yeah, that's right.

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Well, um, uh, what kind of qualifications do you have to have? You, you obviously must have

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to have a doctorate in political science and, uh, have been, uh, well steeped in Republican

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politics for a decade or two, right?

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Yeah. No, um, mercifully, um, the, the requirements, uh, are pretty low. Um, you know,

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I'm sure somewhere there's an official age, uh, requirement, but I, maybe I'd be surprised

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on that one too. Really. The only requirement is that you simply be a member, uh, a registered

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member of the Republican party. Um, and then I would just say maybe off to the side, um,

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you, you ought to care. Uh, and now there are some bad actors that they're a lie, you know,

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their alliances and allegiances, uh, their reason for caring might be a little bit suspect, but

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at the end of the day, um, to be a precinct committeeman, I think you, you have to, um,

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you have to care about, um, about the laws of the land. You have to care about, um, about

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the body politic and you have to see, um, that we can either love our neighbor or we can hurt

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our neighbor through laws that are, uh, enacted and enforced.

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Now, as each person is listening here today, um, just ask yourself as Paul goes through this and

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his own experience too, you know, uh, does that mean that I'm qualified? And as you, as you check

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these things off, um, this was meant precisely for the average citizen to become involved.

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That's right.

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And, uh, if this Republic belongs to us and if our government belongs to us, then, uh, we get

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involved at, at this level and, uh, we own it. The people, uh, can own their political parties if

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they get involved in, in this manner. And it doesn't have to, you don't need a doctorate in

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political science and you don't need to be, uh, a crafty, savvy, cunning fox in order to, uh, to get

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along in this world. You can, uh, you can live and survive and thrive in this political world by

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being just a straightforward, uh, citizen who, who puts your Christian principles, uh, towards

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crafting legislation and influencing, uh, those elected representatives.

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That's right. So precinct committee men do not, uh, generally draft laws. They don't do, uh, a whole

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lot of public speaking. Uh, it's not even really public office. What it is, is it's, um, you're the

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lowest level elected officer, uh, in the governance of the Republican party. Um, and so, you know,

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and this goes again for, uh, other, um, political parties in the state. And, uh, I have chosen to

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become involved in the, in the Republican party in particular, uh, for a number of reasons. Um,

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I guess I'm not, uh, a, I never will be a, um, a kind of ride or die Republican. Um, I, I don't really

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have loyalty to the Republican party. And I know that's weird coming from somebody who's holding

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office within that organization. Um, but at the end of the day, uh, I, uh, am involved in the

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Republican party because, uh, it's useful, um, as a tool in the greater body politic and in the,

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the conversation that's happening in Idaho. Um, and the platform honestly, uh, fairly close is,

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closely aligns with my own convictions and worldview. And, and I think for most Christians,

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that's probably the case. Uh, I don't claim that the, uh, that the platform of the state party

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is precisely the way that I would want it to be. Um, but it's, it's definitely close enough and it's

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quite workable. And oh, by the way, that's one of the glorious things about being a precinct

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committeeman is you can help to actually, uh, conform that state party platform, uh, to more and

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more godly principles and precepts. Um, now how, how do you have an influence on the

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platform, which as you say, is a, is a pretty important, pretty important role then consequently.

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That's right. So every single precinct committeeman in this state is at once a member of two different

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bodies, um, uh, groups of Republicans, other precinct committeemen. And, uh, so they're part

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of their own legislative district central committee and also their county central committees. And then

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above that, uh, just the way that the state party has chosen to govern itself, you then have a region,

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uh, above those two and then the state. And so, um, each one of those organizations has bylaws. Uh,

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they have their own meetings. They can have, um, their, their own rules and their, their own platform,

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or maybe their own, uh, divergent, you know, um, areas where they might, they might take exception with,

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with what the state platform is. All those bodies can do that. But basically the way you influence it

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is number one by simply, uh, by simply voting. So you have a convention every two years in which,

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uh, in which these, uh, these things come up. And so if, if you want to be a delegate, uh, to the

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state convention, have the opportunity to, to, to vote on the various proposed changes. And that means

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either voting them up or down because there may be some changes that, uh, that represent, um, what in

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your opinion might be a big step backward. Um, and so you have the opportunity to say, no, I don't believe

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that. I don't think that the Republican party should believe that. Uh, and, and frankly,

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I don't think, you know, Idahoans in general believe that. Um, and, and so it's, it's really

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by the process of assembling all these delegates from all over the state that the will of the

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Republicans statewide is really manifested. Um, but if Christians continue to not show up and

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abdicate these, uh, opportunities, um, then we'll continue to see, uh, see the, the ball shift

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or see, see the bubble move, I guess. Um, and I, I would just point out maybe that there

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are some perverse incentives that draw people to become engaged and involved as precinct

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committeemen. Um, because the reality is there, there is power. And anytime that you

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have, uh, power available, you have the possibility of drawing people for the wrong reasons. And

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that, that is again, why it's so important for Christians that are principled to become

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involved because if, and when we don't, uh, then those people for those, uh, less than stellar

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reasons are going to be the ones who are going to control the party.

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A special interest, for example, that kid, that has come up, uh, quite often special interests

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have every reason, um, under the sun to, uh, uh, to influence, uh, party platforms, for

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example, or specific legislation. Um, so, uh, we need to get those as you, as you mentioned,

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who are passionate about say Christian principle, for example, to become involved too, um, for

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social legislation and, um, and other matters as well. Uh, do you have, uh, the ability

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to draft particular planks for the party platform? Uh, you're not just there as a robot to vote

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up or down. Do you have, um, um, the opportunity to, to draft a particular plank?

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Yeah. Great question. So, um, you know, because one of the, I, I just want to, I guess, by,

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by talking about initially, um, just by simply showing up, uh, as a precinct committeeman,

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there's, there's amazing opportunity. Um, and so you don't need to be experienced or accomplished

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or even come in with all sorts of ideas to start making an impact. A precinct committee,

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committeeman can simply consider the proposals before them and then, and then ask the question,

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uh, what does the Bible teach about this? And then vote accordingly. However, as a person

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is involved in gains experience, um, it's almost inevitable that a precinct committeeman will,

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will probably start having some ideas. We'll start coming into, uh, hearing stories about maybe some,

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some of their own personal experiences where they see a possibility of, of, uh, or an opportunity

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for better legislation. And so precinct committeeman can draft a resolution, um, and, uh, calling on,

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on maybe their own, uh, legislators. It may call on the state party to call on the entire legislature,

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um, to enact a law toward a certain end. And so precinct committeeman can draft those. They can work

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collaboratively. We've had groups of precinct committeeman that, um, uh, that socialize a

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document and work and there's an iterative, you know, improvement to the proposal and, um, and it

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can be introduced, uh, at that point. And then, um, makes its way again through these deliberative

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bodies for the, the duly elected precinct committeeman representing their own precincts to

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be able to say, Hey, either we think this reflects us in this, you know, this, um, this is something

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that's godly and, and reflects biblical principles or not. For example, if we were just to take a

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hypothetical and, uh, um, could you develop, uh, a resolution maybe to begin with to ban, uh,

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gender transition surgery? Um, that's before several, um, uh, several state houses.

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Right. Um, great question. Great question. So yeah. And, and, uh, a lot of people don't realize

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that by the time a lot of laws get introduced, um, very often what you have preceding that are,

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uh, various resolutions that have been introduced and passed within, uh, within party organizations.

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And so it allows legislators to then, um, maybe look to other states, work with different organizations

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and experts to craft precise language. But then when they bring that law before the house and the

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Senate here in Idaho, they're, they're able to say, Hey, you know, the state party actually passed a

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resolution calling on us to enact this exact legislation. And so there's a lot of groundwork

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that can be laid, uh, by working in and through the Republican party, um, that can sometimes precede

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the passing of and signing of legislation by, by years. Um, so that's a, a piece that a lot of people

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don't really see or realize is going on. And so, yes, you can, you can be a part of that.

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Yeah. So let's say one of our listeners is, uh, interested in what we've been talking about and

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wants to explore becoming, um, uh, a, a commitment. Um, how would he go about doing that?

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Wonderful question. So, um, the first thing I would just say, maybe to, to back up a little bit is just

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to, just to encourage people, uh, in the first place to, uh, to really seriously consider this.

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Um, I strongly believe, uh, that, uh, Christians ought to be serving in their local church. Uh, if

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you are nearly showing up, if you're, um, have a consumer mindset and mentality when it comes to

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your local church, um, then I think you probably need to recalibrate. Um, you should be, you should

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be serving. That doesn't mean that every person is serving in the same way, uh, with the same

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frequency, et cetera, but, um, but just serve. And so I actually think that, um, that Christian

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households can joyfully serve, um, in the civil sphere through, uh, being a precinct committee man

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or, or even working for your precinct committee man. There's a little known position called block

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captain. And, and essentially a precinct can be divided up even further into, uh, you know, just

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a street, just, you know, a person street. And, uh, and so a person can serve their, their precinct

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committee man, committee man by saying, Hey, when it comes to getting the word out about anything,

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I will cover my street. Um, and so the commitment is very low. Uh, it's also something that you can do

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as a family, uh, my own family. I love taking my wife and children out, uh, when we go into our

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precinct to communicate. And we do this as a family. We just, it's just a walk. Um, but to get

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involved, the first thing you would probably want to do is just go to idgop.org. Um, and at that point

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you can, uh, drill down and just so you find your own County, um, links to the County and Legislative

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District websites are, um, on the Idaho GOP website. Um, and then once you find those websites or the

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contact information for the chair of that group, just reach out or just show up, uh, if they publish

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their meeting dates and just start introducing yourself and, and maybe you can meet your precinct

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committee men. There's also strong possibility that your precinct is vacant, that there is nobody

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who is a precinct committee man. And what happens in a vacuum too? I want you to touch on that a little

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bit too, because it, it's not as if you, we can just throw up our hands and say, well, you know,

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I'm awful busy. I'm going to leave this to somebody else, somebody else just as conservative

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as me and, and has Christian principles like me, wait for them to fill the void. In reality,

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who actually fills the void? You've already told me at least a little bit about, uh, other bad actors,

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as you call them, who end up filling the vacuum. Yep. So when I, um, I started showing up at the

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meetings in, in 2022, right after that primary, uh, which by the way, and you know, I know Ada

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County because it's my own backyard, but it's a good, uh, test case. Uh, and in 2022 is primary,

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a third of the precincts didn't, there was not nobody filed to run a vacuum. There was a vacuum

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that existed. Uh, and for about a quarter of the precincts, there was only one person that filed.

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That means for over half of Republicans in Ada County back in 2022, there really wasn't a choice.

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Um, and so who was showing up? Well, when I later campaigned in 2024, uh, for precinct committeeman,

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I went to every single, um, uh, household in my precinct where there was one or more registered

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Republicans. And out of the approximately 200 households that I visited, only three even knew

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what a precinct committeeman was. So it really is a very, um, well, well read in, uh, very acquainted

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political class who even was aware of this mechanism in the first place. And those are

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the people who for decades, a generation or more who've been showing up and, and essentially taking

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the power because it's just sitting there on a table waiting for literally anybody to show up

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low hanging fruit, low hanging fruit. And so, um, there are some bad actors who have been involved

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in Idaho politics and the Republican party for, for a long time. I'll give you just one example,

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but there's a woman who's currently a precinct committeeman in Ada County. And, you know,

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I don't know how else to say it other than she's a radical leftist. And, um, I, I shared with you

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brother, um, some of the content that she has publicly posted to Facebook. And I think you'd

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agree that that's not hyperbole. Um, this is somebody who, um, would even perhaps be on the left

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side of the Democrat party today. Uh, and yet she holds, um, power in the, uh, Republican party

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here in our state. And it's simply because, um, no, she showed up. So, uh, it's sad. Um, but there

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are people influencing the party in our state who, uh, do not believe like you and me and, and our

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listeners, uh, they do not, um, they're not working for you. Absolutely. Now, what kind of

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sacrifices in terms of, of time, resources, energy, that kind of thing? Um, am I going to have to give

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up my day job and, and, uh, uh, cash in my 401k in order to participate? Yeah, that's, that's just

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really, really good question. So, um, it's entirely volunteer. Almost every, uh, person who's involved

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in, in party politics is, is a volunteer position. Um, so I attend, uh, two meetings monthly. Um,

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they, they're about an hour to an hour and a half long. Um, and oftentimes I'm able to bring my

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children, um, who are, um, 19 months, five and seven years old. Um, and so, yeah, I actually

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really think that I'm, I'm able to, to give my children a gift and that they're able to see

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their father, uh, engaged in public civil life, um, toward the end of loving his neighbor. So they

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get to see their father modeling what it means to love your neighbor. Um, and so there's, there's,

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uh, the County meeting, the legislative district meeting, those are usually monthly. Sometimes

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somebody will move to just cancel a meeting, you know, say around Christmas or middle of summer.

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That's not entirely uncommon. Um, so, uh, and then, you know, just a brief review of the, the,

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the upcoming business prior to those meetings, that would be kind of a bare minimum. And then also

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as elections happen, um, as much as you're able, uh, to be able to get out and talk to the people

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in your precinct. Um, some people have more time to do that. Others less. Um, but, uh, the, the bad

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actors have no interest in talking to anybody and they never do. And so if you get out at all,

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you're, you're doing a lot better than probably the, the, the person who, uh, you might be vying

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against. So I would encourage you. Uh, it's really not a huge commitment. If you want to give more,

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there's opportunity. People might say, Hey, can you serve on this committee? And, but yeah,

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great. Well, this is, our time is already, uh, finished here, uh, Paul, but if you would like

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some more information, um, and maybe even like to talk to Paul, um, I just encourage you to call

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us at new Geneva and I can, uh, forward some, some further information, but we just encourage you

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to, to get out there and serve. Um, and, uh, it's, it's not the insurmountable, uh, mountain

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that you may think. And Paul, what a delight it's been to have you here with us. Uh, Mr. Paul

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Lewer, uh, from Ada County. And we're just, uh, grateful that you have shared your time here with

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us today and hopefully encourage some people in Bonneville County, uh, to get out there and serve

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as well. This has been pastor David Bass at new Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian church with Mr. Paul

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Lewer. And we invite you to join us on Sunday at 10 AM at 101 4th street on the corner of 4th and

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Boulevard and call us for more information on this and other broadcast 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.