It’s summer time again. As expected, it is hot, but if it was -10° we would complain because it’s human nature to want something different than what we have at the present. We were brought up to question and resist compliance. We should challenge the status quo and authorities. Sure, in the end we may have to comply with rational and reasonable laws, but not out of ignorance. My wife has coined a phrase: We were the “Live Free or Die” state, but with COVID we quickly became the “Live to Comply” state.
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<p style=”text-align: center;”><em>We’d like to thank NH State Rep. Dave Testerman for this Op-Ed. If you have an Op-Ed or LTE</em>
<em>you would like us to consider please submit it to Skip@GraniteGrok or Steve@GraniteGrok.com</em>.</p>
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The attention given to COVID is real, but we must challenge what our authorities are doing. What does science and data reflect and what we hear from friends and the media must all be assessed and you are responsible for deciding what is best for your situation.
Most concerning is that people seem to be falling in line to whatever the latest rule or guideline is from on high like the old game of lemmings, blindly marching over the cliff. There are arguments on both side for social distancing, masks, limited seating, and hundreds of pages of other guidelines and requirements, but too many of us are queuing up and blindly accepting what the authorities and media directs. Remember the complete quote of John Stark is really “Live free or die. Death is not the greatest of evils.” Stark was saying that sometimes hiding in fear is not what is required.
It’s about accepting personal responsibility. We each need to do our own homework. That is something that the state should have done. We have the highest percentage in the nation of COVID-related deaths in our long term care facilities, but we turned a blind eye and assumed the administration of those facilities could manage with the existing staff and facilities… at a proportional 83.6% morbidity rate, it’s obvious most of them could not. We are now first in the nation in deaths compared to other states. The state assumed it took little more that an infusion of masks and protective garments.
We needed to go full force and concentrate our efforts on those LTCF instead of restricting church attendance. Our families would not be trying to determine the source of the money to pay for their food and rent. Investigating why the overwhelming numbers of deaths were in these homes should have been top priority. Instead, committees were formed to make rules while protesters were welcomed to come into our state and march shoulder to shoulder down our streets. That’s rubbish!
So what will you do? Live Free or Die? Remember, death is not the greatest of evils. You are an independent person and capable of making your own decisions. If you want to follow government rules you are free to Live to Comply but do so knowingly.
If you want, call me at (603) 320-9524 or email at dave@sanbornhall.net.
NH State Rep Dave Testerman (R, Hill and Franklin)
