So many questions …

by Mary Fahnestock-Thomas, Hamilton

… for Terry Lackey regarding her letter in the Star on 9/19/23. 

For starters, she informs us that the John Birch Society (JBS), which she apparently represents here in the Bitterroot, “started in 1958 to fight Communism” but “is not a political organization.”

Communism is a political and economic system, so the JBS presumably favors a different one. Doesn’t that mean it at least has political motives?

She quotes the JBS motto as “Limited Government; More Responsibility, and With God’s Help, A Better World!”

Is your “Limited Government” the same government that wants to deny recognition and health care to people for being who they are and who don’t fit your model? Including women with problematic and/or unwanted pregnancies, LGBTQ+ individuals, and possibly even members of the BIPOC community? (Yes, you can check the acronyms on the internet.)

Is it the same “Limited Government” that wants to ban possibly controversial books and limit the factually documented American history that can be taught in our schools?

Could your “More Responsibility” mean that any of us with awkward challenges or who don’t fit your model – for example with epilepsy, autism, depression, other mental illness, chronic physical disease, birth defects or other disabilities, even unfortunate life choices and poverty – are irresponsible in your book. Perhaps you think it irresponsible to need help in any way?

I personally think that we are all doing our best in every situation, from minute to minute, with what we have to work with, because why would anyone ever mess things up on purpose – especially for themselves – unless that is the only option they can see? It may look different to others, but that’s judging, isn’t it? How can any of us possibly know what is going on in life for anyone else?

You say “our individual rights are from our Creator, not the government,” but since there are hundreds, if not thousands, of ideas and theories of Creation in this nation and the world, I wonder which one you are going by. Whatever, the only thing they probably all have in common is the teaching we call the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. How does the JBS feel about that?

You mention that your JBS is currently studying the US Constitution, which is great, but whatever happened to simple kindness?

Knowledge can be a good thing to pursue, but we are always subject to other people’s opinions and ways of expressing themselves when we’re seeking knowledge. Surely the pandemic and the proliferation of “alternative facts” in the past decade and more shows that anything we learn from others can be unreliable. 

Wisdom, on the other hand, we accumulate through personal experience and recognizing our deepest needs and feelings and those of others. True wisdom leads to kindness, because it acknowledges how much all human beings have in common. Somehow I suspect the JBS may disagree, but doesn’t that smack of exclusion and elitism?

So many questions! Thank you for the opportunity!