I support the governor and his agenda

I voted for Mike Dunleavy, I supported Mike Dunleavy’s campaign and I served with that campaign. I have no regrets.

I, like a lot of other Alaskans, listened and agreed with the agenda outlined during the campaign. I still agree with that agenda; I disagree with the execution. I have made that disagreement absolutely clear and have taken criticism. Goes with the territory.

Alaska is in dire straits fiscally, and everything done prior to the quarantine and shutdown of Alaska’s economy has been undone by this governor.

Instead of listening to the growing opposition and the growing evidence against the questionable effectiveness of the quarantine and shutdown, the governor listens only to an unelected oracle who lives in a yurt who does not break quarantine to work in her office. Dr. Anne Zink, the governor’s oracle in a yurt, now controls the governor’s decisions in spite of the mounting evidence that this pandemic is not as deadly as advertised. The governor’s oracle mouths the same agenda as does Dr. Fauci on the federal level.

We elected Mike Dunleavy as governor, not a doctor oracle who lives in a yurt who, I understand, is quarantined from her coworkers by choice. Apparently, she has no faith in her own immune system. As a result, fear is driving the response.

The coronavirus pandemic was an unanticipated challenge for any governor, or even the president. And, given the governor’s pronouncements during the campaign that he would protect our constitutional rights, the execution of the pandemic response has been somewhat contradictory with regard to the governor’s promises to protect those rights.

I have read the mandates made by the governor and, while criminal jeopardy exists for refusal to comply, no charges have yet to be filed anywhere in Alaska by the state or local authorities. The accused still has his/her rights under our criminal justice system. However, there are violations of First Amendment and Article IV rights. That situation will certainly generate lawsuits, as it should.

The governor could have gone the way of South Dakota and Wyoming and not imposed any restrictions. He did not, he imposed his mandates and thereby violated the state and federal constitutions as did most of the governors. President Trump issued guidelines. The governors issued edicts of tyranny.

Gov. Dunleavy’s mandates are still not the draconian affronts to one’s constitutional rights, with law enforcement getting in our faces and threatening arrest at the slightest provocation, as is happening Outside. Alaska State Troopers have not openly harassed and threatened Alaskans for not wearing a mask, for example.

While we may grouse about our governor, think about this. What would this state be like right now under Ethan “he’s our friend” Berkowitz, or any other radical Democrat? Berkowitz is clearly out of control and a threat to the freedoms of all Alaskans living in or traveling to Anchorage.

I believe that, had a Democrat been governor, the guns would be coming out by now and armed confrontations between protesters and law enforcement would be happening on a regular basis. And, there would have been no relaxing of the mandates, and no hope of such being done until the fictional storyline generated by Dr. Fauci et al. and repeated by Dr. Zink, the governor’s unelected oracle in a yurt, was finally ended.

Dunleavy’s response has been a measured response, somewhere between the extreme and that of the governors of South Dakota and Wyoming.

I disagree with Dunleavy’s response, because I believe in personal responsibility and that our Constitutional freedoms eclipse any threat. However, I recognize that things could be much, much worse. Therefore, we need to be thankful that we have this governor, because the alternative may have imposed a nightmare upon us, resulting in violence. However, that does not excuse what this governor has done, and that which he still fails to do.

I absolutely disagree with shutting down the state. Herd immunity must be achieved. I believe that we will be paying for that mistake for some time into the future, both in terms of the damage to our freedom, the economy, and a longer than necessary susceptibility to infection in those missed the first time around.

The above having been stated, I will support my governor in the recall. If he’s successful against the recall, I will support him for reelection, provided the Michael J. Dunleavy we voted for is front and center and standing tall for his agenda.

Larry Wood is a longtime Alaskan who lives on Lazy Mountain near Palmer.

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