So the new mayor says Anchorage residents “should be free to make their own decisions about their health care, about their families, and about their children’s education.” Has a nice populist ring to it, doesn’t it? The problem is that if a few residents, for personal convenience or as a partisan political statement, make irresponsible decisions regarding masks and vaccinations, they deprive everyone else of that freedom. If the mayor were to get his way and the anti-mask minority were to have free rein, responsible parents would have to choose between risking their children’s health (and their own) or pull them out of school. Staff would have to risk their own health or quit their jobs.
Does the new mayor apply the same libertarian philosophy to stopping at stoplights? After all, where is the individual freedom if we’re told when we can and cannot drive through an intersection? It’s our right to make our own decisions considering our health and safety, and if someone else is maimed or killed, well that’s the price of freedom, right? I don’t know if the new guy runs red lights or not, but it certainly would be consistent with this philosophy.
Anchorage is fortunate to have a school superintendent who stands up for the health and well-being of all students and staff.
— Terry Johnson
Anchorage
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