Karey Hanks

A Platform for Liberty

2021 Idaho Conservative Agenda

Ronald Reagan once observed that, “as government expands, liberty contracts.” It is a lesson in reality that Idahoans have long understood. A government that can give us everything can take everything we have. Its role is not to lift people up but, rather, to stop holding them down.

Idahoans get it. We are a fiercely independent people who want to live in freedom, raise our children according to our values, work hard, enjoy this world, and leave it a little better for our having lived.

We don’t need leaders who have spent 50 years in office, shut away from the day-to-day realities of average citizens. Endurance should never be confused with experience.

My platform is based on one of the oldest tricks in the book: common sense. It reflects and understanding shared by Idahoans at every station of life, that the things that serve us best are the things we are able to do for ourselves.

PRO-GUN

I am a member of the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance (ISAA), Gun Owners of America (GOA), and the National Rifle Association (NRA). I understand and respect America’s commitment to the Second Amendment and the need to protect our rights from infringement at every level. I oppose all forms of “red flag” laws.

PRO-LIFE

I believe all life is sacred, and I am encouraged by recent bills in the Idaho legislature to educate women, via ultrasound and other methods, before they choose to end a pre-born baby’s life. I also believe we need to protect our religious freedom and make efforts to return basic universal principles to our educational facilities.

PRO-FREE MARKET

Slowing down the economy is not progress. We need free-market solutions that lift people out of poverty, rather than trap them into subsistence-level lives with welfare programs. I oppose any further government expansion related to health and welfare. The solution to poverty is to eradicate it, not to subsidize it.

PRO-AGRICULTURE

Government has imposed a plague of artificial regulations and rules that stand in stark contrast to a way of life as old as the Garden of Eden. Agriculture, small business, transportation, and virtually every other means of earning a living is inundated with fees, audits, permits, licenses, and assorted barriers that discourage business startups and job-creating business expansions.

PRO-TAX REFORM

If progress revolved around government spending, we’d have solved all our problems long ago. The money you take home to spend on your family, invest in your business, or make your own life better, doesn’t belong in some bureaucrat’s pocket. I signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge in 2012 and I stand by that pledge today. I oppose any and all efforts to increase taxes in Idaho.

PRO-DEREGULATION

Even here in Idaho, starting a business or building a house requires confronting a mountain of fees, inspections, permits, licenses, and other regulatory barriers. New agency and department rules should require approval by both of the relevant House and Senate committees in order to take effect. Sweeping changes, including Common Core, have made it into Idaho through the rule review process.

About Me

From a modest background with a strong will to make the world a better place I have studied and advocated for Constitutional principles for many years. I have served many youths for the better as a Scout leader then as an intern at the Juvenile Correctional Center. I have supported my husband and family with our farm operations and understand the needs of small businesses. As a proud Idahoan, I want to promote and protect our way of life.

Raised in the Idaho Falls area and Idaho-educated from high school through college, Karey Hanks was raised on the values and traditions of the American West.

As faith representative at the Five County Detention Center with a degree in psychology from Brigham Young University Idaho campus, she has insights stretching across the life experiences of people in the 35th District.

A member of the National Rifle Association and the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, Karey understands and respects America’s commitment to the Second Amendment and the need to protect those rights from infringement at every level. She hails the passage of Senate Bill 1389 in 2016 as a victory for individual rights and personal safety.

Her rich and varied work history reflects a woman with a respect for hard work. She has driven a bus for the Fremont County School District, worked a big rig for Generation Farms, worked as a merchandiser at FGXI, and as a harvest worker at Crapo Farms.

She and her husband, Burke, have lived and farmed in the Egin area for 32 years. They know the importance of water rights and the burden of taxes and overregulation.

A lover of the outdoors, be it skiing, biking or hiking, she understands Idahoans’ connection to the land. That’s why it troubles her that 63 percent of Idaho land is controlled by the federal government, and not Idaho’s citizens. She knows that Idaho’s future must be determined by its own people, and not from behind a desk in Washington.

Idaho’s economic development is irrevocably tied to the soil and without control of its own land, Karey knows that the state cannot advance. She is committed to carrying that message to Boise and beyond. A people without control of their land can only be serfs. She views it as an issue of human rights and liberty.

Her political experience began with the Fremont County Central Committee and the Republican Women’s group in a variety of roles. One of her favorites has been speaking before school and scouting groups about Constitutional principles.

She and Burke have been married 41 years and have 7 children and 14 grandchildren.

Karey understands and appreciates the importance of public service, but she also cherishes the awesome significance of her other roles in life: wife, mother, and grandmother.