Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I'd like to challenge you to become politically active in your area, not running for president, not running for dog catcher, but just getting active in your own local political sphere. And to encourage you along those lines, I have with me today, Mr. Paul Lewer from Ada County, where, of course, Boise sits. And he is a local precinct committeeman in Ada County. And he is a dynamic and vivacious man whose enthusiasm is infectious.

And don't look at me as if you don't know who I'm talking about there, Paul. But Paul is here with us today to kind of give us a brief job description of what he's been doing and how effective he's been in Ada County. And hopefully this will encourage you as well to become active in our own area in Bonneville County. So, Paul, welcome to our podcast today. Thank you so, so much.

I am super excited to get to be here and looking forward to chatting. Yes, we are too. We want to just get a general philosophical overview and a bit and then make sure that you tell us how we can practically get involved. The guy in the street, because as you say, the low-hanging fruit is waiting there for those who show up. That's right.

And all of us can do that. Let me cite, first of all, just taking a broad philosophical overview first, Paul. Let me read from an article from Touchstone magazine, just a great journal if you're not familiar with it. So, if you get a chance to lay your hands on this, listeners, any issue of Touchstone. But I, in particular, am looking at the one from Summer 2025, and it is America After Christianity.

And the subtitle is Neo-Paganism's Dark Enchantment. And it's written by John Daniel Davidson, America After Christianity. And in part, it says that the West has entered a new post-Christian era. What does that mean exactly? To begin with, it means Christian morality will no longer shape our public life.

It also means we will no longer desire or seek out Christians for positions of leadership in society. In fact, we will consider sincere Christians to be bigots and fascists, unfit for positions of public trust. This opinion has already been widely adopted by the mainstream left, and on certain subjects, it is now being adopted by the mainstream right. In sum, the de-Christianization of America means that the mainstream culture in our country will not simply be secular or neutral toward Christians. It will be actively hostile towards the Christian faith.

Unquote. Now, Paul, you have been a real evangelist for recruiting evangelical Christians, believing Christians, outspoken in their faith, for public office. And tell us how you got into that sphere, and what your passion is for getting Christians into the public sphere. Well, thank you. Yes.

So, I've actually lived in Idaho since I was about seven years old. So, I consider it very much home. And I have often wondered over the decades why Idaho, who is, I guess, in name, and perhaps if you look at kind of the status of, say, who's holding office in the state legislature, who has the governor's office, we're supposed to be a quite Republican and conservative state. And I've wondered over the years, why and how is it that, given that reality, we have such a difficult time so often passing legislation, enacting laws that are good laws, that reflect God's nature and character, that honor him. And so, that's always puzzled me.

And I guess, I continue to be puzzled right up through the 2022 primary, when, just by God's providence, I was speaking with a gentleman who was working daily down at the State House during the legislative session. And through him, I got quite the education. So, when I showed up to vote in the primary, I thought I was quite in the know. Well, I got to the end of my ballot, and there was this little thing called precinct committeeman. And there were two names there.

And it was very troubling to me, because I thought I was very much in the know, but I didn't even know what this particular thing was on my ballot. And so, the very next day, I went and asked this person, who was, again, in the State House daily. And I asked him, I said, hey, what is a precinct committeeman? And what he, when he started to explain what it was, and we'll get there, but in a moment, the riddle had been answered. The mystery of how and why Idaho politics was the way it was, was answered.

So, it turns out that precinct committeemen are an extremely important piece in how the body politic works, not only in Idaho, but this is actually the case I believe in in all 50 states. But it went a long way to describing the particular dynamic that we have here in, in Idaho. So, that's kind of my introduction as to how I got involved. And then after that, really, in the explanation of what a precinct committeeman was, I saw a huge promise, a huge opportunity.

So, I showed up at the very next Ada County Republican Central Committee meeting, which is a bit of a mouthful, but basically, it's just all the, the, the duly elected precinct committeemen. And, and they are who the registered party members elect within their own precincts. And so, it's just the, the, the deliberative body that gathers together of, of all of those, they're, they're representing the Republicans in their precincts. And so, showed up at this meeting of Republicans. And that's when the real learning started.

A precinct is just about the, the, the smallest division of, of a, of a, of a, of a party's bailiwick, isn't it? That's right. So, so precinct is used, they're actually established by the secretary of state in a, in a, you know, apportionment process. It's kind of like, you know, congressional districts at the federal level are by populations. And so, here in Idaho, what, what, it's not actually a party first thing.

It's used by the secretary of state to administer elections, but the parties found it very convenient to piggyback or to use that infrastructure, those divisions to, to govern the party. So, the precinct is something that the Republican party, and I think every other registered party in the state of Idaho is, is using, um, to, uh, to be the foundational, um, geographic geopolitical division on which everything else stands. And how many, um, in terms of population does each precinct represent them? Yeah, good question. So, I, I want to say that, uh, each precinct is roughly a thousand households, but, uh, don't quote me on that.

Um, it's, it's, it's somewhere in that number though. Yeah, but relatively small. Relatively small. To give you, yeah, to give you a little context, I'm more or less in the middle of Boise, but my precinct is roughly, um, a quarter mile wide by a half mile long. Um, if you live in rural Idaho, obviously you can have a pretty large geographic area to get a thousand households, but, you know, these are people that, uh, that you live with, that, that you shop with, that you go to church with, that you, you know.

So you, you can at least theoretically be pretty close to the ground, know your people and, uh, respond and so forth. That's right. That's right. That's the, that's the, the, the intent. Yeah, that's right.

Well, um, uh, what kind of qualifications do you have to have? You, you obviously must have to have a doctorate in political science and, uh, have been, uh, well steeped in Republican politics for a decade or two, right? Yeah. No, um, mercifully, um, the, the requirements, uh, are pretty low. Um, you know, I'm sure somewhere there's an official age, uh, requirement, but I, maybe I'd be surprised on that one too.

Really. The only requirement is that you simply be a member, uh, a registered member of the Republican party. Um, and then I would just say maybe off to the side, um, you, you ought to care. Uh, and now there are some bad actors that they're a lie, you know, their alliances and allegiances, uh, their reason for caring might be a little bit suspect, but at the end of the day, um, to be a precinct committeeman, I think you, you have to, um, you have to care about, um, about the laws of the land.

You have to care about, um, about the body politic and you have to see, um, that we can either love our neighbor or we can hurt our neighbor through laws that are, uh, enacted and enforced. Now, as each person is listening here today, um, just ask yourself as Paul goes through this and his own experience too, you know, uh, does that mean that I'm qualified? And as you, as you check these things off, um, this was meant precisely for the average citizen to become involved. That's right. And, uh, if this Republic belongs to us and if our government belongs to us, then, uh, we get involved at, at this level and, uh, we own it.

The people, uh, can own their political parties if they get involved in, in this manner. And it doesn't have to, you don't need a doctorate in political science and you don't need to be, uh, a crafty, savvy, cunning fox in order to, uh, to get along in this world. You can, uh, you can live and survive and thrive in this political world by being just a straightforward, uh, citizen who, who puts your Christian principles, uh, towards crafting legislation and influencing, uh, those elected representatives. That's right. So precinct committee men do not, uh, generally draft laws.

They don't do, uh, a whole lot of public speaking. Uh, it's not even really public office. What it is, is it's, um, you're the lowest level elected officer, uh, in the governance of the Republican party. Um, and so, you know, and this goes again for, uh, other, um, political parties in the state. And, uh, I have chosen to become involved in the, in the Republican party in particular, uh, for a number of reasons.

Um, 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 have loyalty to the Republican party. And I know that's weird coming from somebody who's holding office within that organization. Um, but at the end of the day, uh, I, uh, am involved in the Republican party because, uh, it's useful, um, as a tool in the greater body politic and in the, the conversation that's happening in Idaho. Um, and the platform honestly, uh, fairly close is, closely aligns with my own convictions and worldview.

And, and I think for most Christians, that's probably the case. Uh, I don't claim that the, uh, that the platform of the state party is precisely the way that I would want it to be. Um, but it's, it's definitely close enough and it's quite workable. And oh, by the way, that's one of the glorious things about being a precinct committeeman is you can help to actually, uh, conform that state party platform, uh, to more and more godly principles and precepts. Um, now how, how do you have an influence on the platform, which as you say, is a, is a pretty important, pretty important role then consequently.

That's right. So every single precinct committeeman in this state is at once a member of two different bodies, um, uh, groups of Republicans, other precinct committeemen. And, uh, so they're part of their own legislative district central committee and also their county central committees. And then above that, uh, just the way that the state party has chosen to govern itself, you then have a region, uh, above those two and then the state. And so, um, each one of those organizations has bylaws.

Uh, they have their own meetings. They can have, um, their, their own rules and their, their own platform, or maybe their own, uh, divergent, you know, um, areas where they might, they might take exception with, with what the state platform is. All those bodies can do that. But basically the way you influence it is number one by simply, uh, by simply voting. So you have a convention every two years in which, uh, in which these, uh, these things come up.

And so if, if you want to be a delegate, uh, to the state convention, have the opportunity to, to, to vote on the various proposed changes. And that means either voting them up or down because there may be some changes that, uh, that represent, um, what in your opinion might be a big step backward. Um, and so you have the opportunity to say, no, I don't believe that. I don't think that the Republican party should believe that. Uh, and, and frankly, I don't think, you know, Idahoans in general believe that.

Um, and, and so it's, it's really by the process of assembling all these delegates from all over the state that the will of the Republicans statewide is really manifested. Um, but if Christians continue to not show up and abdicate these, uh, opportunities, um, then we'll continue to see, uh, see the, the ball shift or see, see the bubble move, I guess. Um, and I, I would just point out maybe that there are some perverse incentives that draw people to become engaged and involved as precinct committeemen. Um, because the reality is there, there is power.

And anytime that you have, uh, power available, you have the possibility of drawing people for the wrong reasons. And that, that is again, why it's so important for Christians that are principled to become involved because if, and when we don't, uh, then those people for those, uh, less than stellar reasons are going to be the ones who are going to control the party. A special interest, for example, that kid, that has come up, uh, quite often special interests have every reason, um, under the sun to, uh, uh, to influence, uh, party platforms, for example, or specific legislation.

Um, so, uh, we need to get those as you, as you mentioned, who are passionate about say Christian principle, for example, to become involved too, um, for social legislation and, um, and other matters as well. Uh, do you have, uh, the ability to draft particular planks for the party platform? Uh, you're not just there as a robot to vote up or down. Do you have, um, um, the opportunity to, to draft a particular plank? Yeah.

Great question. So, um, you know, because one of the, I, I just want to, I guess, by, by talking about initially, um, just by simply showing up, uh, as a precinct committeeman, there's, there's amazing opportunity. Um, and so you don't need to be experienced or accomplished or even come in with all sorts of ideas to start making an impact. A precinct committee, committeeman can simply consider the proposals before them and then, and then ask the question, uh, what does the Bible teach about this? And then vote accordingly.

However, as a person is involved in gains experience, um, it's almost inevitable that a precinct committeeman will, will probably start having some ideas. We'll start coming into, uh, hearing stories about maybe some, some of their own personal experiences where they see a possibility of, of, uh, or an opportunity for better legislation. And so precinct committeeman can draft a resolution, um, and, uh, calling on, on maybe their own, uh, legislators. It may call on the state party to call on the entire legislature, um, to enact a law toward a certain end. And so precinct committeeman can draft those.

They can work collaboratively. We've had groups of precinct committeeman that, um, uh, that socialize a document and work and there's an iterative, you know, improvement to the proposal and, um, and it can be introduced, uh, at that point. And then, um, makes its way again through these deliberative bodies for the, the duly elected precinct committeeman representing their own precincts to be able to say, Hey, either we think this reflects us in this, you know, this, um, this is something that's godly and, and reflects biblical principles or not.

For example, if we were just to take a hypothetical and, uh, um, could you develop, uh, a resolution maybe to begin with to ban, uh, gender transition surgery? Um, that's before several, um, uh, several state houses. Right. Um, great question. Great question.

So yeah. And, and, uh, a lot of people don't realize that by the time a lot of laws get introduced, um, very often what you have preceding that are, uh, various resolutions that have been introduced and passed within, uh, within party organizations. And so it allows legislators to then, um, maybe look to other states, work with different organizations and experts to craft precise language. But then when they bring that law before the house and the Senate here in Idaho, they're, they're able to say, Hey, you know, the state party actually passed a resolution calling on us to enact this exact legislation.

And so there's a lot of groundwork that can be laid, uh, by working in and through the Republican party, um, that can sometimes precede the passing of and signing of legislation by, by years. Um, so that's a, a piece that a lot of people don't really see or realize is going on. And so, yes, you can, you can be a part of that. Yeah. So let's say one of our listeners is, uh, interested in what we've been talking about and wants to explore becoming, um, uh, a, a commitment.

Um, how would he go about doing that? Wonderful question. So, um, the first thing I would just say, maybe to, to back up a little bit is just to, just to encourage people, uh, in the first place to, uh, to really seriously consider this. Um, I strongly believe, uh, that, uh, Christians ought to be serving in their local church. Uh, if you are nearly showing up, if you're, um, have a consumer mindset and mentality when it comes to your local church, um, then I think you probably need to recalibrate.

Um, you should be, you should be serving. That doesn't mean that every person is serving in the same way, uh, with the same frequency, et cetera, but, um, but just serve. And so I actually think that, um, that Christian households can joyfully serve, um, in the civil sphere through, uh, being a precinct committee man or, or even working for your precinct committee man. There's a little known position called block captain. And, and essentially a precinct can be divided up even further into, uh, you know, just a street, just, you know, a person street.

And, uh, and so a person can serve their, their precinct committee man, committee man by saying, Hey, when it comes to getting the word out about anything, I will cover my street. Um, and so the commitment is very low. Uh, it's also something that you can do as a family, uh, my own family. I love taking my wife and children out, uh, when we go into our precinct to communicate. And we do this as a family.

We just, it's just a walk. Um, but to get involved, the first thing you would probably want to do is just go to idgop.org. Um, and at that point you can, uh, drill down and just so you find your own County, um, links to the County and Legislative District websites are, um, on the Idaho GOP website. Um, and then once you find those websites or the contact information for the chair of that group, just reach out or just show up, uh, if they publish their meeting dates and just start introducing yourself and, and maybe you can meet your precinct committee men.

There's also strong possibility that your precinct is vacant, that there is nobody who is a precinct committee man. And what happens in a vacuum too? I want you to touch on that a little bit too, because it, it's not as if you, we can just throw up our hands and say, well, you know, I'm awful busy. I'm going to leave this to somebody else, somebody else just as conservative as me and, and has Christian principles like me, wait for them to fill the void. In reality, who actually fills the void?

You've already told me at least a little bit about, uh, other bad actors, as you call them, who end up filling the vacuum. Yep. So when I, um, I started showing up at the meetings in, in 2022, right after that primary, uh, which by the way, and you know, I know Ada County because it's my own backyard, but it's a good, uh, test case. Uh, and in 2022 is primary, a third of the precincts didn't, there was not nobody filed to run a vacuum. There was a vacuum that existed.

Uh, and for about a quarter of the precincts, there was only one person that filed. That means for over half of Republicans in Ada County back in 2022, there really wasn't a choice. Um, and so who was showing up? Well, when I later campaigned in 2024, uh, for precinct committeeman, I went to every single, um, uh, household in my precinct where there was one or more registered Republicans. And out of the approximately 200 households that I visited, only three even knew what a precinct committeeman was.

So it really is a very, um, well, well read in, uh, very acquainted political class who even was aware of this mechanism in the first place. And those are the people who for decades, a generation or more who've been showing up and, and essentially taking the power because it's just sitting there on a table waiting for literally anybody to show up low hanging fruit, low hanging fruit. And so, um, there are some bad actors who have been involved in Idaho politics and the Republican party for, for a long time. I'll give you just one example, but there's a woman who's currently a precinct committeeman in Ada County.

And, you know, I don't know how else to say it other than she's a radical leftist. And, um, I, I shared with you brother, um, some of the content that she has publicly posted to Facebook. And I think you'd agree that that's not hyperbole. Um, this is somebody who, um, would even perhaps be on the left side of the Democrat party today. Uh, and yet she holds, um, power in the, uh, Republican party here in our state.

And it's simply because, um, no, she showed up. So, uh, it's sad. Um, but there are people influencing the party in our state who, uh, do not believe like you and me and, and our listeners, uh, they do not, um, they're not working for you. Absolutely. Now, what kind of sacrifices in terms of, of time, resources, energy, that kind of thing?

Um, am I going to have to give up my day job and, and, uh, uh, cash in my 401k in order to participate? Yeah, that's, that's just really, really good question. So, um, it's entirely volunteer. Almost every, uh, person who's involved in, in party politics is, is a volunteer position. Um, so I attend, uh, two meetings monthly.

Um, they, they're about an hour to an hour and a half long. Um, and oftentimes I'm able to bring my children, um, who are, um, 19 months, five and seven years old. Um, and so, yeah, I actually really think that I'm, I'm able to, to give my children a gift and that they're able to see their father, uh, engaged in public civil life, um, toward the end of loving his neighbor. So they get to see their father modeling what it means to love your neighbor. Um, and so there's, there's, uh, the County meeting, the legislative district meeting, those are usually monthly.

Sometimes somebody will move to just cancel a meeting, you know, say around Christmas or middle of summer. That's not entirely uncommon. Um, so, uh, and then, you know, just a brief review of the, the, the upcoming business prior to those meetings, that would be kind of a bare minimum. And then also as elections happen, um, as much as you're able, uh, to be able to get out and talk to the people in your precinct. Um, some people have more time to do that.

Others less. Um, but, uh, the, the bad actors have no interest in talking to anybody and they never do. And so if you get out at all, you're, you're doing a lot better than probably the, the, the person who, uh, you might be vying against. So I would encourage you. Uh, it's really not a huge commitment.

If you want to give more, there's opportunity. People might say, Hey, can you serve on this committee? And, but yeah, great. Well, this is, our time is already, uh, finished here, uh, Paul, but if you would like some more information, um, and maybe even like to talk to Paul, um, I just encourage you to call us at new Geneva and I can, uh, forward some, some further information, but we just encourage you to, to get out there and serve. Um, and, uh, it's, it's not the insurmountable, uh, mountain that you may think.

And Paul, what a delight it's been to have you here with us. Uh, Mr. Paul Lewer, uh, from Ada County. And we're just, uh, grateful that you have shared your time here with us today and hopefully encourage some people in Bonneville County, uh, to get out there and serve as well. This has been pastor David Bass at new Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian church with Mr. Paul Lewer. And we invite you to join us on Sunday at 10 AM at 101 4th street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard and call us for more information on this and other broadcast 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.