Local government is always best.

Local government is always best.

Local government is always best.

Perhaps if I hit the repeat key again, I'll begin to believe it.

But probably not -- and with a reason, the Idaho Legislature.

In theory, the Idaho Legislature is exactly the sort of "local" government that big shots have in mind when they talk about how badly the federal government botches things.

It is a citizen body banding folks together who live and work in their communities -- neighbors. Even better, this is a neighborly state where we live under the Code of the West. That means when someone down the road needs help building a fence, watching the kids, or any sort of hand, you can count on assistance. It's a rule.

But forget all that if your neighbor happens to get public assistance, you know, welfare.

At that instant the Code shifts into a new history, one where the rugged individual settled this place all by Himself (it was a Him, wasn't it?) Forget the neighbor stuff; our taxes are too high now. Idaho has, after all, the 38th highest individual tax rate in the nation.

Of course the reason for that is we give much too much away to Those People (psst: welfare recipients). The only reason we've been doing that all these years was the federal government required us to provide a minimum level of welfare support. Damn federal intrusion.

Then came the promise of welfare reform.

One of the Republican supporters of welfare reform, Minnesota's Rep. Gil Gutknecht, said states needed a way to design their own programs free from interference because it would improve things. "We are not trying to save money here," he said on the House floor in July 1996, "we are trying to save people, especially kids, from a lifetime of poverty."

Republicans promised to improve the system. But that was said in Washington, D.C. This is Idaho.

Here in the most Republican state in the U.S., things work differently.

The Idaho Legislature is more interested in saving money, than stopping a lifetime of poverty. The folks in our Capitol would rather spend money on a prison inmate than a mother trying to raise a child on her own.

Indeed a new study says most states "are trying to do welfare reform on the cheap." The Tufts University's Center on Hunger and Poverty said 14 states have welfare policies that may improve the economic lives of its participants. Washington was included in that list as a model; Idaho was not.

Of course it's hard to be a model when Idaho is in last place -- 51st -- behind every other state and the District of Columbia.

But why stop there? The Legislature can make things even worse if it tries hard enough. And it is trying.

For example by turning $3.6 million back to the national treasury -- refusing Washington's oversight -- Idaho can kick another 150 kids off a health insurance program. The reasoning from the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee: The state might create a demand that exceeds funding. Might. Not as in "might neighborly."

Moscow's Rep. Tom Trail, a Republican, reports on his e-mail bulletin that the state could give up another $43 million in federal welfare funds because lawmakers do not want to "to crack down on deadbeat parents." A bill defeated Monday would have added Social Security numbers to vehicle and motor boat license applications, making it easier to track deadbeat parents across statelines. "This whole affair boils down to tracking down deadbeat parents instead of our Idaho taxpayers supporting the kids," Trail said. "I suspect the Legislature will hopefully show some common sense and get the needed bills passed."

Why should it? When the state is already 51st in terms of welfare support, who's going to notice when it drops even lower.

Besides there are principles at stake here. This is not about saving money, it's about saving welfare recipients from a lifetime of poverty. (And it ain't neighborly to use a motor boat license to track down a parent who won't pay child support.)

This is just another example of that national government trying to tell us how to govern again. Damn federal intrusion. We all know that local government governs best.

We also have helped every other state and the District of Columbia because now when funding levels look bleak they can say: "Thank God for Idaho." A lot of states will be happy to be ranked 48th, 49th or 50th.