August 16, 2021

There was an opinion piece in the Bozeman Chronicle yesterday morning regarding the inability of Montana State University to mandate that staff and students be vaccinated due to a state law that was passed earlier by the Republican controlled state legislature banning any vaccine/mask mandates.  Never mind that over 600 universities in the country have already mandated vaccines or frequent testing for all faculty and students.   Governor Gianforte and the Republican-controlled legislature enacted this law to defend ‘individual rights’.

Therein lies the problem.  During this same legislative session, they also passed laws to restrict the rights of transgender people, restrict the rights of people trying to vote, and are pushing hard to restrict the rights of women to have access to abortion if they so choose.  The simple fact is, the Governor and the GOP here, as in so many other states, are not really interested in protecting ‘individual rights.’  They are simply using those words to push their own agenda.  When they talk about ‘individual rights’ they are really talking about the rights they wish to extend to people.  That is why their ‘patriotic’ rants about freedom and protecting individual rights rings so hollow.  It’s bullshit, plain and simple.

COVID cases are surging in Montana like almost everywhere else in the nation and since the legislature and the governor have taken away most of the power of the public health officials, we are going to be in for a long fall and winter.   I’m still concerned about my trip to Portugal but I’m wondering if I’ll be in any more danger there than I am here.   Mask mandates are against the law here in Montana but are currently in place for all inside spaces in Portugal.  How does this make any sense whatsoever in the face of a major public health crisis that is ravaging this country? 

The United States, arguably the wealthiest country in the world, with access to millions of doses of COVID vaccines, has one of the highest rates of daily cases of anywhere in the world!!  Think about that.  This whole pandemic has become a demonstration of national insanity.  I think we can all agree that we’d like things to get back to ‘normal’.  We’d like businesses to stay open and be able to attend crowded venues that we once did without a second thought.  In order to do that, we need to stop the spread of the virus.  All it takes to significantly slow or stop the spread of this deadly virus is for people to take basic, simple, public health measures – wear masks and get a vaccination.  It’s a proven, effective solution.

Here in Montana, only 49% of the people are fully vaccinated, the state has outlawed mask mandates, and schoolboard meetings have turned into virtual free-for-alls because of parents who scream bloody murder when a district tries to make masks mandatory in an effort to protect all students and faculty.   The real irony is that the people who scream the loudest that they are sick and tired of COVID restrictions and want their lives back are, in large part, the same people who are willing to do nothing to help solve the problem.

Perhaps all of these people who are screaming about their ‘rights’ should take a quick trip over to Afghanistan and talk to the people there whose ‘rights’ are being significantly crushed due to the Taliban takeover of the country.  Women here are simply being asked to wear a small mask, whereas in Afghanistan, women are being required to wear a full burqa!  And in many rural areas of the country, girls aren’t even allowed to attend school regardless of what they wear and would give anything to be able to attend any school even if they had to wear a small mask.  

Politics, polarization and the flood of misinformation being spewed by right wing media channels is the only explanation for this complete breakdown in common sense and logic.  My feeling is, if people want an end to this pandemic and they are unwilling to do their part to help – they should just shut the hell up!  It’s obvious that the only thing that will get their attention and possibly change their minds is when they or one of their loved ones is hospitalized, possibly dies or suffers from long term consequences from COVID. 

It kind of reminds me of a job I had between undergrad and graduate school years ago.  I spent some time working for a private fire fighting company in Billings, MT.  At the time, we were one of only two such companies in the US.  We had responsibility for everything in Yellowstone County outside of the city limits of Billings.  The service worked on a subscription basis.  Property owners would pay a monthly or annual fee for fire protection but it was completely optional so, of course, some property owners felt like since they had never had a fire, and the odds were pretty small they would suffer from a fire, they chose not to pay for fire protection.

You can see what’s coming.  Some times we would get a call and roll on a fire at a property that was not a subscriber.  We would ensure no lives were threatened and contain the fire to the subject property but, other than that, we’d let it burn – even if that meant that the structure burned down.  And the same way that people now get COVID, are rushed to the hospital and beg for the vaccine, it was too late.  Protecting their property from fire was a simple act of paying a small fee just the same way that getting a small vaccine and use of masks can protect against COVID, but some people are so stubborn that until their house was on fire, they would do nothing.  We’re in a very similar situation with COVID – accept now, people’s decisions to not do their part to stop the spread of this virus, is impacting all of the rest of us.  Insanity and stupidity are the only words that come to mind.

Note:  We could not fight a structure fire on the property of a non-subscriber because if we did, they could (and did) turn around and sue the fire company for water damage, even if we were able to save the structure!