Tag: stevensville

The Carrot and the Stick: Local Flavor

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

Oh, my! I found this flyer posted on a bulletin board recently. My response was inevitable. I just cannot be quiet. The compelling need to expound and elaborate on the public promotion of “compassionate government” displayed is too much for me to resist. After all, what you don’t know CAN hurt you. And your dog, especially if the mutt is NOT registered, recorded, chipped, jabbed, neutered, and protected.

The Carrot: “If your dog gets loose and has a Town of Stevensville tag, we can contact you and aid in reuniting you with your dog.”

Isn’t that nice! Government at its very best!! The Town of Stevensville has a vested interest in making sure that you and your beloved dog are not separated, but if you are, it will do whatever it can to bring you back together. What a beautiful idea! After all, love for its citizens and taxpayers is one of the hallmarks of government, especially at the local level, where names and faces are connected. Council forbid that anyone should run the risk of losing their dog!

The Stick: “If you live in town limits, it is a town ordinance, and you can be cited for having an unlicensed dog. Resolution No. 536.”

Ah, out comes the club. You will license your dog, dammit, or else! Unlicensed dogs will not be allowed or tolerated. Don’t even try. Don’t think you can get away with Breaking the Law! Conform. Comply. Obey. Or else!

The Conditions: Your dog’s vaccinations must be current and up to date. If they are not, the implied message is that you will be denied a license to “own” a dog, which means that you are in violation of Resolution No. 536. See the Town Clerk on your way out to pay the tax, er, I mean, fine. BTW, this requirement is for your own good, since everyone knows that “unvaxxed” dogs are a threat and a menace to other dogs which have already been “jabbed and boosted”. Y’know, kind of like the Covid thing. But, one can never be too safe and if it means that the “safe and effective” shots must be mandated, well, then, that is the price you pay for freedom and the “right” to have a dog.

The Cost: $10.00, due and payable every year from now until forever, unless the rate is increased, at which time you will be notified. Oh, one exception. If you are a “Senior Citizen” (meaning you have reached the hallowed status of Old Age by some quirk of nature), you are entitled to a 50% discount on the cost of your dog’s license, because the Town of Stevensville knows what a burden it is for its richest citizens to be told to cough up an extra five bucks a year. More probably, it knows that older people are politically active AND THEY VOTE, which explains everything.

But wait, as the TV ads shriek, there’s more.

Not only are you forbidden to keep a dog without paying the “toll”, but you must also reach deep into your wallet if you want to have a rabbit, a chicken, or a duck. However, because these are exotic species (more so than the plain, mundane dog), the fee demanded is increased to $25.00, also presumably due and payable annually. That’s right. If you want to keep a rabbit in your house as a pet, you must buy permission from the Town, which is always looking out for your welfare. Just think about it. Should the rabbit escape and go on the lam, at least the Town will know where it is supposed to be and will make every effort to get it home “safely”, that is, if it is also tagged properly. There is nothing listed here about price breaks for the “sainted gray hairs”, however. Maybe the Town is trying to discourage its oldsters from engaging in the practice of cuddling rabbits.

Chickens? Ducks? Pay up! Just do it. I am surprised, however, that there is no mention of vaccination records for these species. With all the hype and hoopla of “Avian Flu epidemics” and the controlled, government mandated killings of millions and millions of birds, a rational person would think that the Town of Stevensville would at least make noises about “safety” in this regard. But, nope. Crickets. Which only goes to show the extent of the compassion the Town has for its most vulnerable citizens. Better to simply price them out of the market.

(Disclaimer: In just a little over a month, I will experience my 66th birthday and I have had gray hair for years. I do not, however, have any sympathy for the “victim” mentality of the Boomer generation. I think that if a price break were to be given to anyone, it should be a young couple with kids who are just getting started in adult life. They need help.)

One question I have for the Town is why they did not include cats, horses, or cattle into this mix? What about guinea pigs which are almost as loud as rabbits, but stink more. What about canaries? Or because geese were excluded, does that mean that someone can put up a pair of honkers in their back yard? For that matter, an unrestrained boa constrictor is probably more of a threat than a dog (at least to those who keep pet mice), yet nothing is said about those. Why doesn’t the Town simply outlaw ALL animal husbandry (oops, bad word) unless express permission is granted, with the appropriate requisite fee being paid, of course.

Of course.

Oh, my! It’s a good thing I don’t live within the town limits or there would be trouble. More than likely, I would have to run for a seat on the Council simply to create opposition for this kind of shakedown. Because that is literally what it is. A shakedown. As it is, I’ll just raise a ruckus from the safety of my own space not far from the scene of the crime and maybe, just maybe, someone else may sit up and take notice.

Let’s get real, here. A license is nothing more than permission granted by a recognized authority to an individual with regard to conducting some manner of activity. Permission. Permission granted. Permission denied. Call it whatever you want, but boiled down to the bare essence, it means that someone, somewhere, decides what you can and cannot do. And then charges you for the purpose of officially stamping a document.

Your papers, please. As freedom-loving citizens of the United Socialist State of America, we love it and clamor for more.

God help us!

Conquer the Fear

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” — Bertrand Russell–Unpopular Essays (1950) “Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”

“…if we let things terrify us, then life is not worth living.” — Seneca

The fear is palpable. It can be seen anywhere…and everywhere. Ordinary, average people covering their faces with whatever can be called a mask. Signs and placards telling shoppers to maintain a “safe” distance between themselves and others. Non-stop “news” reports which keep the crisis constantly in view. Government officials declaring lockdowns. Model predictions presented as absolute proof that these actions are necessary. Constantly updated numbers which “prove” that the threat is existential. The ever-present and growing possibility of mass vaccination—voluntary or ordered. And on and on…

The worst thing about Covid-19 is not the virus itself, but the fear, panic, and hysteria it generates. We have become afraid of something which most of us will never encounter in any meaningful, personally detrimental way. We have allowed our fear to foster suspicion of everyone around us and to drive us apart. Humans are social creatures, but we have become anti-social and antagonistic toward others—not because they ARE a threat to our lives, but because we think that they MIGHT be. Because of our fear, we are encouraging and condoning actions which would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago. We have been spooked. We have been reduced to fighting with each other over a scrap of cloth. 

This brings up a question. Why are we afraid? There are any number of things that could be trotted out to answer this question, but ultimately only one explains it fully—we are afraid to die. We have never come to grips with the certainty that our lives are going to end sometime. We avoid death like the plague, pardon the pun, and simply refuse to countenance the idea that we are mortal. Life is a preparation for death and to paraphrase Seneca, if we let death terrify us, then we will not live. 

Life, however, is also about potential and what we can become in the time we are here. All of us are capable of more than we realize, but when we allow fear to consume our thoughts and dictate our actions, we become paralyzed and incapable of reaching our potential…or even coming remotely close to it. This is one of the great tragedies of life—that we have such enormous capacity and accomplish so little. A side note to this is that the little we do accomplish is often done, not because we recognize our potential and reach for it, but out of a sense of self-defense, in other words, because we are afraid. 

Supposedly, as modern, enlightened people, we have overcome the superstitions which afflicted our ignorant ancestors. The events of the last several months, however, should have put that belief to bed. We are just as fearful as they were, creating our own superstitions and, consequently, have become cruel in our own way. 

Conquer the fear. It is the only way forward.

[This essay was first published as a Letter to the Editor in the Bitterroot Star, a small, local newspaper in Stevensville, Montana]