Cruel and stupid

To the Editor;

In 2004 the journalist Sam Smith wrote, “The best politics are a pretty poor substitute for life and the worst politics compound their felony by forcing us to leave the front stoop to do something about them. Our quarrel with the abuse of power should be not only that it is cruel and stupid but that it takes so much time away from other things — like loving and being loved, and music and a good meal and the sunset of a gentle day.”

The Piscataquis County Commissioners posted a “Resolution of Protest” on the county’s website last week which contains falsehoods regarding pandemics and efforts to contain them. Gov. Mills is not “ruling alone through the dictates of one” as the commissioners assert.She and health advisors are following guidelines that are internationally recognized as “best practices.” The coronavirus continues to spread because those practices are being criticized and ignored. The commissioners’ protests bear the hallmark of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) which tries to dominate legislative agendas in many states. Their overriding goal is to reduce regulations and taxes. When their actions try to override public safety measures during a health crisis, though, they become, in Sam Smith’s words, “cruel and stupid.”

The commissioners contend that they were elected by “strong majorities” and therefore should be allowed to undo protective public safeguards they don’t like. A strong minority of us in Piscataquis County think otherwise. The commissioners do not speak for all of us.    

Heidi Erspamer

Dover-Foxcroft