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Tester parrots Schumer points

Fellow liberal Democrats have lauded Sen. Jon Tester as being “courageous” for voting against the confirmation of the eminently qualified Neil Gorsuch for U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Is parroting the rhetoric and reasons of liberal New York Sen. Chuck Schumer courageous? It is just like 2010, when Tester obeyed former Sen. Harry Reid and cast a deciding vote for Obamacare without reading the bill. His “reward” then was $16 million to hire a Colorado firm to build a totally unneeded border crossing building at Whitetail, Montana. Fortunately, the Canadians closed their side before this money was wasted.

In January, Tester facetiously showed up at Ryan Zinke’s confirmation hearing, then, again following orders from Chuck Schumer, Jon helped the Democrats mount an unprecedented display of delaying and obstructing all of the president’s appointments, causing problems in the transition of government. Is this what he calls “Montana values”? We deserve a senator who will put the interests of all Montanans above narrow partisan behavior. Perhaps Tester should introduce legislation to limit congressional terms and eliminate their obscene retirement benefits. That, we could all agree, would be courageous! —Philip L. Barney, Polson

Single payer is the way to go

I am sick and tired of hearing politicians lament rates would go down if only the poor insurance companies could compete more across state lines. They can sell across state lines now! They just have to abide by the requirements our elected insurance commissioner sets so we don’t get ripped off.

The simple best answer is the same it was 50 years ago — single payer, i.e., Medicare part E. It’s been proven the best solution in every other economically advanced country in the world and there is nothing different about Americans when it comes to basic health needs.

Several of the GOP members have finally recognized the American people regard access to good health care as a basic human right — not access to purchase but actual access. I have access to purchase a Rolls Royce and I have access to my 1991 Volvo wagon — guess which one I will put the most miles on? And no, the thought I could buy a Rolls if I wanted is no great comfort to me.

Another thing I have never lost sleep over is the wealthy paying too much income tax, and yet tax reform seems to be next up (even lower taxes for Queen Bee Billionaires and higher taxes for worker bees). Want to bet the deficit is nowhere near as important as it was a year ago? Be part of the NEW Democratic Party and let’s return some common sense to D.C. —Bob Petersen, Evergreen

‘Propaganda hit piece’ questioned

“We Take Our Stand,” an insert in the Daily Inter Lake on May 21, brought back an odd memory from several years ago. A group, me included, was on a day hike in Glacier Park at a time that the parking lot at Logan Pass was to be expanded. A hiker casually mentioned that several hundred additional square feet of the parking lot was going to be paved. A woman in the group became extremely indignant. I remember one of her many comments exactly.

“Ah yeah, pave over the entire park!”

And she was angry. She has 1,583 square miles of wilderness in the park to wander around in, with almost no one there. But she will begrudge some productive citizen with not much time the opportunity to walk to Hidden Lake? Someone in a wheelchair might as well stay home? How about somebody that just doesn’t want to hike? Those people are beneath considering. Right? It’s the same attitude that is expressed throughout “We Take Our Stand.” The attitude of “I’ve got mine and to hell with you.”

There are fascinating statements throughout this insert.

For instance, “Even the bastards that want to take it away from him.” Really. Who are the bastards that want to take public lands away from your son? How about a name? Just exactly how did that bastard say that he wanted to take away your son’s public lands? Tell us. Then there is “selling them off to the highest bidder.” After some research I have not found any one that advocates “selling them off to the highest bidder” or any other bidder.

And how about Trump? “A sociopath,” “a sick and self-deluded man.” These are small, random samples. There are many more.

“We Take Our Stand” is a propaganda hit piece from the first word to the last period that would make Herr Goebbels blush.

Say it again, authors of “We Task Our Stand”: “I’ve got mine and to hell with you.” —Al Baird, Kalispell

Trump and the ‘Banality of Evil’

Philosopher Hannah Arendt once wrote a book about how outrageous behavior, if not evil, became normal in the society preceding and during the Holocaust.

This “normality,” ignoring evil that is present, was how people would carry out unspeakable acts like doing the work that enabled the death camps to function. Of course, Arendt was writing a response to the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the “final solution” who declared that he was simply a railroad engineer doing his duty to his country. How is he to be blamed? Though fortunately most Americans today have not been faced with the horrors of genocide, there is reason to examine how many of us practice this “banality” in our own country.

Taking press releases without critical thinking is one way. Before he was fired, former FBI Director James Comey testified that the FBI was investigating Russian influence in the 2016 election. One media response was, “DeepStateGate: Democrats’ Russia Conspiracy Theory,” another “Fix Is In: House Committee on “Russian Hacking,” or this, “Fake News, Russian Hacking” from Breitbart. Each article spinning the committee hearing to cast doubt on the actual story. Readers of Breitbart may believe in lies. When the integrity of our elections — our democracy — is interfered with by a hostile country and people are led to believe the problem is the Democratic Party? That’s ignorance. And ignorance leads to moral decay.

To ignore that the Ku Klux Klan was ecstatic at the election of Donald Trump because they now believed they had a friend in the White House is another way to normalize evil. Even after the election when over 200 white nationalists met a few blocks from the White House and shouted, “Heil Trump! Heil Our People! Heil Victory!” To ignore the near-tripling of anti-Muslim hate groups and the emergence and activity of neo-Nazis and anti-semitic hate crimes while appointing one of their advocates, Steve Bannon, as the president’s top adviser is flirting with evil.

And finally, when American citizens ignore references to Mexicans as “rapists and criminals,” causing an the increase in hate crimes nationwide, stating POWs like John McCain is not a hero while criticizing Gold Star (Kahn) family, using celebrity status to grope women, banning all Muslims, ignoring provable facts as “fake news,” in addition to the mountain of lies (too numerous to name here) one after another that come from our president, that is normalizing outrageous behavior. These are examples of what Hannah Arendt would describe as the “Banality of Evil.” —David R. James, Eureka