Letters to the editor June 2

Come on, Montana

Yea, park rangers! We took a drive to Glacier Park on Memorial Day before the “tourist season” starts and drove to Avalanche, as far as you can go with a vehicle. Alongside parked off the road in an area where they were working on regrowing the vegetation are three trucks parked, and all three of them had tickets on them for parking there. I thought maybe it’s people from out of state and didn’t know any better. When we came back through, we looked and all three were from Montana. Come on Montana — have some respect! Although everyone who lives here now is not from Montana!

—Kathryn Menke, Kalispell

Fight against rhetoric

As a response to the letter May 26 “Truth will Set Us Free.” I would like to discuss the common dog whistles and signals the writer uses that lead to conspiracy theory and hateful thinking.

Most revealing, the writer refers to a group of people as “globalists,” that have “rigged” the game of life and have spell-like control over the masses. The use of this term echoes back to the falsified Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which asserted a Jewish plot for world domination existed. Since then, almost all of America’s conspiracies around worldwide control (the Rothschilds, George Soros paying protesters) has had an antisemitic bent.

He also asserts that the mainstream media is intentionally feeding the American populace “false flag attacks.” This is most likely in reference to mass shootings that right-wing conspiracy figures have claimed are fake, mostly to ignore the fact that most people carrying out these attacks have been empowered by their “no-exceptions” pro-gun policies and sometimes agree with them politically. Alex Jones, the primary peddler of these unproven theories, even had to acknowledge the reality of the shootings previously claimed as fake, because his claims were so unfounded he could not defend them in court.

This, plus a reference to “The Matrix” (which is ironic, given that modern viewings of the film reveal a very pro-transgender method the author might disagree with), creates a letter clearly meant to signal to hateful theorists that they are in good company, encouraging them down the pipeline of hate. Given our valley holds pastor Chuck Baldwin, who claims that “Zionists” (read: Jews) control Hollywood media and the deep state to destroy America and asserts that the Christchurch shootings were staged, it is essential that we fight against this rhetoric every time we see it.

—Alec Willis, Kalispell

Let the bison roam

Theodore Roosevelt established the National Bison Range in 1908 to provide “a permanent national bison range for the herd of bison.” The North American bison has been an animal of spiritual importance and a symbol of cultural heritage for centuries. However, if our national mammal migrates outside of Yellowstone National Park, they’re treated much less like an iconic symbol of American heritage and more like a nuisance.

Killing or harming a bald eagle, our national bird, carries maximum penalties of $100,000 in fines and up to one year in prison. So why are nearly 1,500 bison brutally slaughtered every winter?

Our government officials, former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Gov. Steve Bullock allow this killing to occur, instead of allowing bison to roam free as they did for nearly all of history. Not allowing bison to migrate north of Yellowstone National Park is culturally absurd, inherently dangerous, economically hindering, and environmentally irresponsible.

—Natalie Crane, Bozeman

‘Enslavement caucus’

Republican voters were sure deceived when they voted Bob Brown in as Secretary of State in 2004. His May 12 letter to the editor of the Daily Inter Lake shows that he supports what Annie Bukacek appropriately calls the “enslavement caucus,” a group of “Republicans” who vote with the Democrats.

Bob Brown wants to muffle Legistats, one of the scoring systems that helps to expose the enslavement caucus members and thereby exposes one of the many mechanisms of political corruption. Following the antics of the enslavement caucus this has brought to light the mechanism by which liberty oriented Montana has been overtaken by tyrannical government expansion, even while Republicans have majorities in both Montana Houses. Historically, and logically, growth of government is inversely proportional to individual liberty.

Don’t let this topic of corruption grow cold until liberty is victorious.

—Brenda Hambrick, Lakeside