November 13, 2026
Freedom Is No Passive Buy-and-Hold
By: Julianne Young
In May 1943, a B-24 bomber went down in the Pacific. Among the survivors was Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner turned Army Air Forces bombardier. Louis subsequently spent 47 days adrift on a life raft, circled by sharks, strafed by an enemy plane, and passed over by friendly ones. When he finally reached land, he became a prisoner of war. For more than two years, Japanese prison guards beat and starved him, determined to break him. The War Department declared him dead, and the Japanese offered him comfort and safety if he would read anti-American propaganda on Radio Tokyo. Louis refused. He would not be broken.
Most of us will never face what Louis faced. But this Veterans Day reminds us that the light of freedom Louis defended abroad survives only if it burns just as brightly in the hearts and minds of ordinary citizens at home.
Some treat liberty like a retirement account: buy in once, sit tight, ride out the swings, and trust it to grow. A hands-off approach may serve some financial investors well. It does not serve a free people. A republic left on autopilot erodes.
Defending freedom is an active investment requiring time, talent and treasure, and for some, the sacrifice of everything.
The defeat of Proposition 1 was the result of just such a willingness to invest. From the moment Roe was overturned, the pro-abortion message dominated media headlines. Idaho is a small state, and our financial resources were limited. Yet I watched thousands of everyday Idahoans give their time and talents in a battle that, at times, felt impossible.
Some folks put their personal lives on hold to knock doors for weeks. I saw thousands of local dollars raised in a few short days to post billboards across Idaho declaring that this community, or that one, “chooses life.” I saw local Republican central committees pass resolutions, allocate funding, and work to inform their communities. I responded to requests for informational meetings across eastern Idaho, from Salmon and St. Anthony to Soda Springs. Physicians risked their employment to tell the truth about Idaho’s Pro-life Law, and pastors and congregations stood up in a culture that increasingly tells people of faith to sit down and shut up. Families planted yard signs knowing that others might disagree, and then replanted them when the first were stolen or defaced.
None of them were paid. Few will ever be thanked by name. All of them believed that the protection of life is fundamental to free civilization and that the future of a preborn child is worth defending. They did not sit back and wait to see which way the wind blew. They went to work.
On November 3, Idaho voters soundly rejected Proposition 1. This success was earned, one conversation at a time.
Some will view the outcome as a temporary dip, a downturn to be waited out until the next ballot. The pro-abortion lobby is already back at it. So are we. Freedom is never a one-time purchase.
The fundamentals have not changed. A preborn child is a human life. A mother deserves excellent care. A pregnant woman’s doctor cares for two patients. Those truths do not rise and fall with the news cycle, nor should our willingness to invest in and defend them.
Our obligation to those who voted differently hasn’t changed either. Many Idahoans supported Prop 1 out of sincere concern for women facing frightening medical situations. Those fears deserve educated, civil answers. When a physician brought me her concerns about civil liability in 2024, I initiated Senate Bill 1171. It passed the Senate 32-1 and the House 64-3, an undeniable indication of the legislature’s willingness to respond to the valid concerns of doctors. Some will never be satisfied with anything short of unregulated, no-questions-asked abortion. But that is not true of most Idahoans.
Of all the sacrifices freedom demands, the hard, honest conversation that identifies and builds common ground may be the most difficult.
This Veterans Day, we honor those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom, and those who came home carrying wounds we may never see. We honor them best by refusing to let what they defended lapse through neglect.
Freedom asks something of each of us. Across Idaho this fall, thousands answered the call.
And since this editorial borrows the language of investing, here is my obligatory disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Freedom defended yesterday must be defended again tomorrow. But unlike the market, freedom comes with one guarantee: Left unattended and undefended, it will be lost.
Julianne Young is a Bingham County Mom who loves faith, family, and freedom; a former state representative; founder of the nonprofit Idaho Family Strong; regional coordinator for Idaho Chooses Life; and 2nd Vice Chair of the Idaho State GOP.
