Election disception?

by Archie L Thomas & Merry Schrumpf, Corvallis

My wife and I were recently confronted by a lady and provided with a black and white folded brochure paid for by “HOWE TO GET IT”  regarding the upcoming BVCC levy. Who is this shadow group? This sincere sounding woman seemed to be a member of an opposition meeting at a local restaurant. Her verbal input and brochure were not founded in reality. Our purpose is to make the brochure and its misinformation known to the public. The brochure is at best misinformation, at worse an organized public deception inciting class warfare.

 The printed financial misinformation is well rebutted by BVCC and others.  It would require a separate letter to address the inaccuracies. The brochure is full of unfounded facts. We would like to highlight this  statement’s implications.

“Not everyone goes to college. It’s not fair to permanently increase taxes to force people who never went to college to pay for others to go to college.”

Is this our community culture to lie, blame one fabricated group against another, believe local conspiracy theories while hampering education and job growth opportunities? When you last paid taxes, did they refuse your money based on your level of education or accept your money only if you are uneducated? What is educated versus uneducated? This naked deception creates a “me against them attitude” where none exists. Rarely at a community level is false cultural rhetoric used to pit one imagined segment against another, let alone against better education. The politics of local resentment rooted in vague language such as “educated versus uneducated” has nothing to do with taxes, levies or education and more to do with an organization and members’ bigoted message trying to pass as informed public discussion.

 This lady said she had taught courses online. She insisted everyone would be less expensively educated online rather than going to college. How has online learning worked for your child during the pandemic? This brochure advocates withholding accessible, affordable education and job opportunities. Community based education enhances people’s quality of life. Such as county road taxes enable getting to work, rather than a toll road for the uneducated. This locally invented conspiracy theory fabricates the negative, while assuming all taxes are bad. This information is as unfounded and fake as anything found on the dark internet.

As conservative native Montanans with 50 plus years in the Bitter Root Valley, this brochure flies in the face of Montana’s inclusive “can do” values.

Please vote YES for the BVCC levy as a small annual investment in your community’s future, economic health and against deceptive propaganda.