Editorialist Gamble’s August 31 column asserts that county officials and employees lack “will” because they have raised the levy. In doing so, he relies (again) on an increasingly popular, but I hope still repugnant, illogical ad hominem strategy of ascribing moral deficiency to those he differs with politically in order to elicit support for his position and to claim, without substance, a morally superior position to them.
Stripped of its personal attacks, the column and its sources don’t really point us to a conclusion. In fact, it is just as logical to assert that officials, with input from staff, and knowing full well that nobody really wants to pay more taxes, have had the “will” to make the unpopular decision to raise our taxes to address complex needs, even as they are vilified weekly in the News-Herald.
Journalism certainly functions in part to scrutinize and critique public acts, and editorialists get to be critical of both acts and actors. But in being critical, Mr. Gamble might do better to be more intellectually rigorous. You can do it: where there’s a will, there’s a way, or so I’ve been told.
Terry Collins
Grand Marais
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