I like rules!
I like rules; now that I’m old enough to appreciate their importance in a stable society. Yes, laws can sometimes be convoluted or personally inconvenient. But I compliment the Hawaii Police for establishing a procedure to corral the chaotic scene as thousands flocked to see the Mauna Loa eruption.
I also compliment former-Gov. David Ige for the COVID restrictions which rendered Hawaii the safest state in the nation and the people who worked to enforce those rules. It was unfortunate that extremist conspiracies on incendiary media incited defiant rule breakers.
History has demonstrated that the key to disrupting any stable, civilized society is to first get people to distrust present government, regulations and factually-verifiable knowledge; which Libertarians, the Freedom Caucus and the GOP conspire to do. Decades of the extremist political myth that any regulation by the “big, bad government” should be resisted has led to a rebellious nation confused about the role of a constitutional government “for all”.
Such conspiratorial falsehoods serve to disrupt a well-balanced, functioning democracy in multiple ways: not just when rule-resistors harm law-abiding citizens but when women are overpowered by male dominance, non-white individuals are overpowered by white supremacists and the poor are overpowered by the wealthy with their expensive lawyers.
I think it’s time that right-wing, ultra-conservative factions (along with their institutions, media and pliable politicians) stop creating dissension and instability by implying that rules are a “loss of personal freedom.” I’d like to see a return to patriotic consideration for fellow citizens, constitutional justice and bipartisanship in 2023, wouldn’t you?
Martha Hodges
Kailua-Kona
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