Many disturbing things are said at Livingston County Commission meetings these days. I can hardly begin to catalogue them all.
But something at the Oct. 10 meeting struck me.
During the call to the public, a man blasted the measures people were asked to take during the height of the covid-19 pandemic for the common good. “If history has taught us anything…anytime a society does something for the greater good or for a few, every individual suffers for it,” one speaker said.
I can think of a lot of times when Americans did things for the greater good. For example:
• In 1941-1945, 16 million people served in the military and sacrificed their personal lives for the greater good, suffering injuries or even death to win World War II and stop the spread of fascism. I think it was worth it.
• During the same period, people on the home front planted Victory gardens, used ration cards, recycled metal and bacon fat, and got by without new cars or new tires so that the nation’s military and those of our Allies had the food and materiel they needed to win that war. I think it was worth it.
• Hundreds of thousands of people made similar sacrifices to win World War I. My great uncle, whom I never met, was killed in that conflict and is buried in France. I appreciate his sacrifice for the greater good.
• Again, hundreds of thousands died or were maimed to preserve the Union and end slavery for the greater good. I think I was worth it.
• It isn’t only in war time. We slow down in construction zones so that workers are safe as they fix roads for the greater good. We slow down in school zones so that our children can be safe while they cross the street to school. We stop behind school buses so that children can get on or off safely, even if they’re not our own children. We don’t drink and drive because we don’t want to hurt someone else.
• Many of us go to churches where we are told to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” Was Jesus wrong about the greater good?
Many Livingston County Republicans have become so focused on opposing anything new that comes from Lansing or Washington, D.C., that they seem willing to turn their backs on everybody outside their immediate family.
Is that really the kind of community we want to live in?
