Good for our community?

To the Editor,

I expect there will now be a lot of passionate letters for and against Mr. Blackstone’s column. To me this highlights the downside of featuring intensely partisan opinions in our local paper.

I like to think of Sanders County as a very friendly place, where we tend to know and help our neighbors. We work together on many community events and projects. It seems we frequently impress newcomers with our open and helpful nature. This tendency is a welcome contrast to the partisan bickering and conflict that is taking hold in our country.

As we are all aware, many politicians and regular people have become increasingly committed to insisting that our side is right, and the other is somehow morally wrong. It is like a sugar high for the people who engage in it. It is also deeply damaging to the important process of finding common ground and working together in a positive way.

From what I gather, Mr. Blackstone is a fine man. Some of the opinions he expresses smack of common sense. But he is also an intense partisan. His focus on the divisive flashpoints of the culture wars are clearly inflaming the partisan divide that is in danger of overwhelming our positive American spirit.

I will give him the benefit of the doubt, that he is a sincere and well-meaning person. But perhaps it is fair to say that his beliefs are so one-sided that he is mostly unaware how consistently he states his opinions as fact, and ridicules and dismisses those who disagree with him.

Mr. Blackstone recently wrote that people were trying to silence him. This is a typically false and inflammatory statement. No one is trying to silence him – in our great country anyone can say damn near anything they want. The question that is relevant is - How can it be a good for our community to fan the flames of divisive national politics in our local paper?

Doug Ferrell,

Trout Creek