Letters to the editor Aug. 26
Tired of distorted arguments
I see that once again Flathead County leads the state in the number of new cases of Covid. In addition, Flathead County ranks in the bottom 38% of vaccinated counties and worse than the other large counties.
As a fully vaccinated individual who wore a mask faithfully in all indoor facilities and who recently tested positive for Covid (along with my husband), I am disappointed (if not disgusted) with my fellow residents of Flathead County who refuse to get vaccinated and/or wear a mask.
I can’t help but wonder why. I’ve come to five conclusions:
We have three county commissioners who put so-called “individual liberty” far above life, social responsibility, and public health, and are missing in action on this vital public issue that has already taken 116 lives in Flathead County.
The Daily Inter Lake will publish every crackpot letter saying that Covid is a hoax and the vaccine is dangerous, thus giving credence to patently false information.
The majority of residents get their news from Fox News and are so far into conspiracy theories that they refuse to even consider any facts as real.
It does not help that the acting public health director was pulled out of retirement because no one would take the job given the current local political situation.
And finally, Logan Health’s CEO appears to be more interested in rebranding and fighting with nurses than fighting Covid.
I am so tired of hearing distorted arguments about liberty. The leading sentence of the second paragraph in the Declaration of Independence puts “life” as the first inalienable right. The Montana Constitution, Article II, Part II places health on an equal footing with liberties. And finally the Mission Statement for Flathead County doesn’t even mention “liberty’ but does list safety as a core value.
As Justice Robert Jackson succinctly said in 1949, the U.S. “Constitution is not a suicide pact.”
Sometimes I feel like I’m living in Southern Alabama and not Southern Flathead County.
—Lana Batts, Lakeside