According to a speech Gov. Dunleavy gave to the right-wing Texas Public Policy Foundation in January, we’re at war!
“These groups are declaring war on the state of Alaska,” Dunleavy said of the alleged Alaska enemies in a panel discussion. “I know that this is language that in the last couple of days some folks would caution us from using. But I don’t know how else you word it. This is what’s occurring and we’re gonna fight it.”
Them’s fightin’ words for a leader — and highly inflammatory, as he knowingly and willingly ratchets up the already-combustible state of our politics in order to ratchet up his future national political aspirations within the GOP.
The increased physicality of Anchorage residents’ rage has already erupted, as hordes of folks ride past the mayor’s residence and huddle at Loussac Library with bullhorns and shout hateful epithets. Assembly meetings roil with chaos and disorder in response to more hateful rhetoric and incitement from some politicos as they fan the flames of discord for their own political advantages, campaigns and website clicks, among other things.
Alaska has the highest share of adults who own guns: 61.7%.
Dunleavy and others “leaders” must stand down with their “we’re-at-war” bravado. Surely, they can use reason and their brains before they drag us into total mayhem and intense armed conflicts in a state where guns are as plentiful as chocolate is in Switzerland, Germany and Belgium.
The violence-filled rhetoric from the governor, U.S. delegation and other officials is misplaced, misguided, intellectually vapid, and wrong.
It must stop. Now.
— Andrée McLeod
Anchorage
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