It’s apparent from ADN’s letters that some people in Anchorage do not understand the difference between “woke” and “normal.” I don’t like the words used in that divide because they are misleading.
Let’s start with “normal.”
In Anchorage, normal is doing things the same, expecting different results. That has been an overused definition of insanity, but that is the mindset of the people who profit from homelessness. That is the paradigm of our present Assembly majority and mayoral candidate Suzanne La-France who has supported them.
In contrast, the incumbent mayor, Dave Bronson, made a bold proposal to create a Navigation Center that could have helped solve the problem. His proposal was shot down by the Assembly.
“Woke-ism” is more difficult.
That term has garnered political energy of late. On the surface, it purports to connect with disenfranchised people. In reality, I believe it connects with a lineage that goes back at least to Vladimir Lenin and has been amplified by subsequent dictators such as Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot and countless others who offered empty promises for total conformity and fealty. One can never be “woke” enough. Such a system turns in upon itself.
Trotsky is an early example. The current situation on our campuses is a more contemporary example of such mindlessness.
I simply propose that Anchorage becomes aware and wakes up. In the mayoral runoff election, we can retry expensive solutions that haven’t worked, or we can use our minds and vote for a person who has a record of standing up to what has been normal for all too long.
— Russ Baker
Anchorage
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