Letters to the editor from this week's Chronicle

To the Editor
Seeking Favoritism from Elected Officials Results in Tributary Servitude

Since nothing enters the public treasury for the benefit of one citizen without taking from another citizen, I am unable to reconcile how elected officials can financially injure some in order to financially ‘help’ others even if it’s “well intended”.   I believe that while I should support the proper role of elected officials to protect individual property, government officials should not engage in supporting the people.  Why? The moment elected officials begin temporally supporting people favoritism enters the system.  It then sprouts becoming a program, then an agency or a department.  What follows is that more people want “support” and other agencies or departments are created.  In time, elected officials, instead of protecting property of individuals, are now, using law to use individual property through taxes to fund multiple agencies/departments.   What neither seem to realize is that the growth and quantity of such programs causes citizens, in time, with the strokes of the pen of law, to become tributary servants of the State.  Preposterous!?  Before deciding, learn what percent of the State’s budget is expended to support ‘short term’ programs, and are these programs growing or disappearing?  But, you may say, “We elected them and I like the programs!”  I say, “Then we elected tributary servitude.  For slavery entered in by one’s own decision or slavery from external forces is still slavery.”   Rather than seeking blue collar or white collar handouts, I think it’s better to be self-reliant.  Self-reliance minimizes  tributary servitude (financial, mental or emotional) to us and others. 
Scott Perrin
Cottonwood, Idaho

To the Editor,
The article published last week by St. Mary’s Hospital and signed by multiple MDs was disturbing to say the least. Every premise they put forth as fact could be disputed, but in the current world, opinions are touted as facts all the time. So instead, I want to share what bothered me most. The article reads, “We want to emphasize that masking should be strongly encouraged, if not mandatory, for all community members. . .” Mandatory? This is a contagious flu, not the Black Plague. This is America, not Nazi Germany. This is a slippery slope to total government control. It is time to use more common sense. May God Bless America, the land of the FREE and home of the brave!
Margaret Frei
Cottonwood Idaho

Dear Editor:
I may well be in the minority, but following was my statement submitted to the Lewiston City Council on 11/18, the day before its vote on a proposal to mandate mask-wearing within their city.
My view lost out, incidentally, as the vote was 4 to 3 in favor.
So goes today's America!......accordingly as the Bible laments at Hosea 4:6:  For lack of knowledge, do my people perish!
I, Carol J. Asher, request that the following message be read aloud at your specially-convened council meeting of Thursday, November 19th, and made a part of the public record:
*****
Dear Mayor Collins and members of Lewiston City Council:
I have serious doubts that any socialist/Marxist-educated officials will have what it takes to understand what I am about to say, yet I can assure you that all true-blue citizens of our Constitutional Republic DO understand perfectly! 
So, I ask you to please pay close attention to this rule of thumb, by which each of you can check yourself, CONSTITUTIONALLY:
Government officials have NO authority to do ANYTHING that it would be unlawful for private citizens to do.  This means that if I, as a private citizen, do not have the power to require my fellow citizens to perform in a certain way - - which obviously I don't! - - then neither do government officials have any such power!
Also, be very careful, lest you forget this following principle that ranks of the highest order:  Under America's Republican form of government, THE CITIZENS are your BOSSES; you are their hired servants, elected and empowered to perform certain, limited, lawful functions......NOT rule over the lives of sovereign people!
Another critically important fact that you all need to know and remember is this:  True law does not compel performance; true law merely enjoins us from violating the natural-born rights and liberties of one another.  Applied to the matter at hand, this means that you could never have been given - - and thus you DO NOT HAVE - - the power to pass an ordinance mandating the wearing of masks, and calling it "law."  Tyranny indeed it would be, but law??  NEVER!
It is true that I myself live some distance away in Kamiah, but you might be interested to know that only yesterday I spent over 200.00 among your city merchants.  If the wearing of masks is ever mandated for Lewiston, I will be spending my dollars elsewhere.
Thank you all sincerely for doing what is right.......as Americans!
Carol J. Asher
Kamiah
 

A Message of Strength and Encouragement
Opinion By Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin
Idahoans have endured a lot over the last year. On both an economic and personal level, we have collectively been through more hardships in 2020 than in any other year in recent memory. In spite of these many adversities, I have seen great courage and resilience among Idaho's people. It has been my great honor to serve as a leader in this state and to witness the determination of the individuals who call our state home.
I believe that Idahoans have suffered enough. There are many ways in which the state of Idaho could take action to ameliorate the unfortunate conditions that have been forced upon us as a result of the coronavirus and—to a much greater degree—as a result of government lockdowns and ongoing restrictions of businesses and individuals.
One important solution involves expanding our state's healthcare capacity, something we hear is in increasingly short supply. First, though, we need some clarity regarding what specifically is lacking. Do we need more space and more beds or more doctors and nurses? Are we using the most state of the art equipment for personal protection and for facility sanitization? Once we understand the specific needs, we can work on fulfilling them.
For example, if it is primarily a personnel issue, perhaps we could bring in retired nurses to handle non-COVID injuries or expedite the training and certification of trainees who are in school right now. We could increase pay for our existing nurses who are suffering burnout or bring in healthcare workers from other areas. We could hire more instructors to train additional Certified Nursing Assistants and Certified Medical Assistants.
Instead of using fear about capacity as an excuse for more mandates, we should identify where we have shortages and work to remedy them.
The state could also take direct action to help individuals and businesses who have suffered financial hardships as a result of government lockdowns, social distancing orders, capacity limitations, and other policies. Idaho has received almost $2 billion in federal CARES Act money, and we have wide latitude to use this money to alleviate the harm that has been suffered by Idahoans.
Some of that money could be used to provide income tax credits to working families who have been forced to spend additional money to pay for childcare due to school closures.
There are a number of other options as well. Instead of localities threatening to pull business licenses, they could offer the elimination of business license fees for one year in order to incentivize a desired outcome. We could suspend business payroll taxes, income taxes, or even property taxes for a year. In addition to the CARES Act money, Idaho is positioned to have a General Fund budget surplus of over $500m in the current fiscal year. Surely, the legislature could find some room to help offer much needed relief to Idaho citizens. We should direct this money to the people and businesses who have been  by injurious government policies. These policies have inflicted significant financial, physical, and emotional harm on Idahoans across the state. Over the last few weeks, we have seen more mandates being proposed or imposed on Idahoans by elected and appointed officials at various levels of government. These policies are multiplying the harm many times over. We don't need excessive government interventions. We need to trust each other to do what is best to protect ourselves and our loved ones. We need to use our God-given gifts to help each other through these times.
I know that many Idahoans are chafing under the heavy hand of government right now. I feel it too. We rightly resent unjustified infringements on our fundamental freedoms and the unwarranted suspension of our natural rights. I am optimistic that the state legislature will take steps to right some of these wrongs when they convene in January. Until such corrections are made, I encourage you all to continue standing up for your beliefs and defending your rights.
The more we learn, the less we have to fear. As a member of CFAC, your Lieutenant Governor, and a former legislator, I am committed to working with stakeholders and finding effective solutions that do not infringe on your rights. Have courage. Main Street Idaho needs your support right now. Your community needs your help. We all have talents and gifts that we can share as we work to rebuild our economy and restore our state.

Be Not Afraid
Having lived 7 years in Vietnam, I know communism. Communism tells its citizens if they can go to church, or assemble for political meetings. It tells them who they can associate with. It tells them what news they can read, what programs they can watch, what music they can listen to, and what opinions they can have. It tells its citizens when to turn off the lights, when to go home, and when to get off the streets. Communism rewards those who rat out their neighbors for noncompliance.
Communism forbids its people from questioning any action of that government. Billboards and loudspeakers blare: "Trust your Government! Government knows best!"
Your government does not know best. It serves you. You do not serve it. We are a free people. In 2020 we Americans forgot we were free. We took on the classic characteristics of communism. We complied, when told not to question our government. We complied when told not to read analysis from doctors who disagreed with the government. We complied when told not to post opinions contrary to government policy. We were told not to go to church, not to go to restaurants, not to see family. Too risky, we were told. We complied.
But we are a people who take risk, aren't we? We make those decisions ourselves. Always have. We go to restaurants, even in flu season. We go to bars, even with someone who has a cold. We go to weddings, knowing there may be some in attendance who are sick. We board airplanes and buses equipped with barf bags. We race cars. We bungie jump and we sky dive. Who decided we weren't capable of making those decisions about risk?
We Americans are, in fact, defined by our fearlessness, and our appetite for risk.
Yet, in 2020, your government told you to be afraid. You complied. Your government then debased every right listed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, namely the right to free exercise of religion, the freedom of speech, or of the press, and the right of the people peaceably to assemble.
We are a free people. Be not afraid. Be American. Question your government.
James Rockwell, Chairman
And the Idaho County
Republican Central
Committee

Redneck Review!
No. 291 - 11/23/2020
Hello out there!  Someone!  Anyone!   This 83 year old Red Neck is in a constant state of shock, and truly wonders if the world has gone crazy or perhaps it is myself that has lost his mind!  Maybe I have the definition of "Red Neck" incorrect!  So I just asked Google and was told "A conservative reactionary from a rural area!" Wow! Google, you and I agree! So encouraged by the master researcher, we plunge ahead with the reasons for our confusion!
To begin, people my age were raised in a period (The 1950's) in an Idaho country setting where Democrats and Republicans got along, kids were mostly carefree and happy, and schools and sports were full of fun and even a bit of learning now and then. And for the most part, free of annoying little requests and demands, as long as one behaved oneself of course! We were exposed constantly to a respect for God, His son Jesus, and the Christian faith, and
no one thought anything about it nor did we hear complaints from others for our beliefs. A couple of examples illustrate the above.  One, as a first grader in the public school in Stites Idaho, where my mother was the 7th and 8th grade teacher, we started each day with a prayer, and an acknowledgment of our Creator.  Then for a year as a fifth grader in the public school system in Grangeville, the entire student body listened to a Bible reading before school each day. And even more recently, black clad nuns were hired and taught in public schools like Greencreek and Ferdinand and were even part of the faculty at Prairie High School after the 1970 date when the school was purchased from the Benedictine sisters and the name switched from St. Gertrude's Academy to Prairie High School.  Most of the students returned to almost the same rooms and even the same desks when school started up that fall.
We grew up, proud to be Americans, and were taught enough history and current events to know that we were the luckiest people on earth.  Only in America were people free to live their lives as we did, free from the dictates of kings and dictators found in many other parts of the world who interfered with people's lives and in many cases, totally deprived them of their personal freedom.  We were expected to know the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, there to remind us that "We hold these truths to be self evident,  that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
And what about the First Amendment?  "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or denying freedom of speech, the press, THE RIGHT TO ASSEMBLY..."  We learned that THE PEOPLE held the ultimate power to govern, with the states the first level given that power to provide the necessary regional government, and that the states gave LIMITED and RESTRICTED powers to our national government expected to deal with NATIONAL ISSUES.  And from the clothes we wore to the rules we followed we were told that "One size does not fit all."
So can anyone explain why our president and our governors, are expected to decide for ALL  OF US?  I am not being critical of the individuals in those positions, just that it is impossible and is UNAMERICAN to ask them to do so!  For example, take the recent effort to deal with an increased number of positive Covid tests.  ONE REGULATION  to deal with the problem? The same in Idaho County where literally all who are diagnosed with it are confined in a local prison? And the deaths due to the virus have fallen to less than 1% of those confirmed?  So, as space is limited, it must be asked, Why at a local ball games, only ONE parent per player us allowed in a gym? Why not two? Or the player's family?  I await your answer, and will return in detail to the crazy nature of such rules in next weeks article!    Meanwhile, think of it!
Jake Wren

 



Cottonwood, Idaho 83522
 

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