The town offices of exurban/suburban Burrillville, R.I.
Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com
Gun-toting Burrillville, R.I., has become a sort of mini-Red State, in which science and public health take a back seat to libertarian obsessions. I’m referring to its Town Council’s 5-2 vote on June 24 to declare Burrillville a “First Amendment Sanctuary Town.”
This was part of the council’s denunciation of Gov. Gina Raimondo’s executive orders regarding social distancing, crowd size, face masks and other coronavirus-control measures as “unconstitutional’’ and, presumably, ignorable under the First Amendment. The council asserts that the measures have caused “substantial harm to the emotional, spiritual and financial well-being” of residents. Give me a break! Surely Burrillvilleans aren’t that sensitive and fragile!?
It’s nice to see, any event, Burrillville expressing interest in the First Amendment rather than just its version of the Second Amendment (making sure to leave out that inconvenient bit about “a well-regulated militia’’).
Of course living in a community where you’re more likely to get infected than in some nearby places because the usual public-health rules in a pandemic aren’t followed can also do “substantial harm’’ to your “well-being.’’ And being sick ain’t good for your freedom either.
Oh, well ….
In any case, Governor Raimondo and her team have done a good job in managing the pandemic through relentlessly promoting behavioral guidelines and tests, especially considering the state’s location between the two hot spots of metro New York and metro Boston and that it’s the second most densely populated state (after New Jersey). As of this typing, the Ocean State had reported a little over 900 deaths in a population of a bit over 1 million while Massachusetts has reported over 8,000 deaths in a population of about 6.9 million.
Leaders like Ms. Raimondo must battle the politically driven, or just crazy, misinformation about the pandemic on Facebook and other social media and the strong anti-science element in America now.
Of course, people generally don’t want to be told what to do…..
