SigMT

You've heard of the 3 R's, so how about the 3 C's: Corruption, culpability, and cowardice? If you are paying aention, it's hard not to look around the world today and see chaos. ere is war in Eastern Europe, and now in the Middle East. Covid hysteria is back, and we're hearing stories about mask mandates and vaccines all over again. We're told that "men" and "women" are a thing of the past, and you are a hateful bigot for suggesting otherwise. Elementary Ed seems poised to lurch farther into gender studies and critical race theory; meanwhile, normies are cursed for noticing that the 3 Rs seem to be falling by the wayside. I think much of the entropy can be traced to the 3 C's. First, corruption—but not simple gra, although there's probably plenty of that. Instead, think about corruption as ideologues and special interests seizing our institutions and focusing them on missions other than their ostensible purpose. ere is evidence to suggest that, during the two weeks between the fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the final U.S. military flight out of Afghanistan in 2021, the Pentagon was scrambling to complete a paper about …climate change. Is it possible that focusing on, well, the actual mission could have saved lives? e DOJ has targeted angry parents at school board meetings and numerous federal agencies have been caught tracking U.S. citizens comments on social media, yet actual crime in our cities seems to be increasing. January 6th defendants spent months in solitary confinement, yet pro-Palestinian groups' aempts to scale the White House fence barely merit a shrug. e second C is culpability, and essentially, we have none. Rochelle Walensky, Director of CDC, said in March 2021: "Vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don't get sick." Yet, emails from the same timeframe show that she knew this was not true. Was she punished for lying or shamed in the press? Not at all. In 2015, EPA employees were involved in releasing approximately 3,000,000 gallons of toxic wastewater into the Animas River watershed. Did you ever read about them geing fired? Would a private company have been granted this leniency? During Covid, the City of Great Falls Health Director closed numerous local businesses with virtually no scientific basis. Did she lose any income? Of course not; she was given a standing ovation by our City Commission. And the beat goes on… e final C is cowardice, and for this, you and I need to look in the mirror, as we are the ones who allowed these things to happen. Of course, there's at least some percentage of elementary and middle school teachers who believe that it is wrong to perform sex change… er…excuse me, gender-affirming care on children. It's probable that at least some teachers understand that their colleagues are not qualified to diagnose, let alone treat, gender dysphoria. Yet, where is the backlash? Our national debt is 33 trillion dollars, an unfathomable sum. Our federal government apparently cannot function without borrowing 500 billion to a trillion dollars a year, and yet, what have you done about it other than complain to your friends? You knew it was ridiculous when, during Covid, you had to wear your mask into the restaurant, but you could take it off when you sat down. Did you do anything? Did you show up at a meeting to protest? You've heard it said that January 6th was the worst aack "on democracy" since the Civil War. Yet, you saw the rioting in 2020. You remember when the Weathermen actually exploded a bomb in the U.S. Capitol building? Did you defend the protesters or ask for some perspective? You hear the US constantly aacked as a "white supremacist" society, as though ours is the only history that has known racism. Do you publicly defend our country, or do you keep your head down, hoping the flack won't find you? I'm as guilty as anyone. I keep my mouth shut (most of the time!) to save my own skin. I watch everything that happens in our culture, and I—no, actually, the operative word is "watch." I watch it. I complain about it. And I do nothing. "We have met the enemy," a cray opossum once opined, "and he is us." 96 | SIGNATURE MONTANA Gregg Smith is a local attorney, born and raised in Great Falls. He is a small "L" libertarian with obvious populist leanings. He genuinely likes people of all persuasions, political and otherwise. THE LAST WORD OPINION S MT CORRUPTION, CULPABILITY and COWARDICE BY GREGG SMITH

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