Opinions

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
-- Benjamin Franklin

New attention is being paid to American exile Edward Snowden these days with the release of a movie by filmmaker and screenwriter Oliver Stone. Titled “Snowden,” it looks into what drove the National Security Agency (NSA) contract worker to take top secret documents from his workplace.

More attention to Snowden is also being generated with the calls by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union for President Barack Obama to pardon him.

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News

Last week we received an email through the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editor’s listserv from a journalism student at a university researching when community newspapers would go all digital. She was talking about the day there would be no more printed newspapers.

When this question has been asked by other young people it is asked with the assumption that when print goes away there will be plenty of sources from which to get the news you need to be an informed citizen. You’ll get all the news that connects you to your community’s life from your schools, to your clubs, to the births and deaths, marriages and anniversaries, to the farm community, to business news, letters and opinions from fellow citizens, and much more. You’ll also get all the information that keeps you up-to-date with what your city, school district, county and hospital are doing.

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News

Being part of the National Newspaper Association (NNA) has provided us with opportunities to travel across the country and experience events that we would have never encountered but for our membership. We had one of the most memorable experiences last week when we traveled to the NNA annual convention in Franklin, Tennessee.

Franklin is about the same distance from Nashville, the heart of country western music in America, as Bloomington is from downtown Minneapolis.

Last Thursday night at The Factory in Franklin four top country singer-songwriters sat across the small stage with their acoustic guitars. Though they entertained us for more than an hour, the four never played as a group. Rather each one took a turn at describing one of the songs he had written, the country artist who had picked it up, and how it became a hit.

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News

After years of seeing t-shirts with sayings things like “I’d rather be...” with an illustration of a fish, pheasant, duck or deer, implying the person wearing it was an avid outdoor sportsman, we saw one this past weekend that gave insight into where too many young people’s passions are today. It said, “I’d rather be…” and was illustrated with video games.

Minnesota’s waterfowl season starts this Saturday. The archery deer season is already underway and the pheasant season starts in just a couple weeks. It’s a time of year those who love the outdoors and the challenge of hunting anxiously anticipate.

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News

The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: “Our country - when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.” -- Carl Schurz, Civil War General

 “With liberty and justice for all,” are the last words of the Pledge of Allegiance. But what when happens when liberty and justice are unequal? What happens when you are a member of a minority that is persistently, systematically discriminated against?

What happens when you are parents who have to fear for the lives of your children when they leave the home, not because of what a criminal might do, but because of what law enforcement might do?

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News

"If my child had prejudice in his head, I’d be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent."  -- Salman Rushdie, Author

When our grandfather came to rural Benson as a young boy of five-years-old, he couldn’t speak English. Norwegian was his native tongue. But he quickly learned English attending country school in Six Mile Grove Township. He only attended school through the eighth grade but was one of most well read people we knew growing up.

He grew up working on the farm, then as many did, worked a variety of jobs before becoming a plumber who also dug and built basements. Ole Anfinson worked hard to make a better life for his three children. His oldest child, Ronald Anfinson, graduated from Benson High School and went on to be a bombardier on a B-24 bomber in World War II. After the war he went on to graduate from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News

In this day of electronic gadgets that keep people constantly connected, where people seem addicted to their cell phones, compulsively making calls and texting, attending the Swift County Fair can be a throw back to a time before the Internet. The experience isn’t entirely free of people with phones to their ears, or fingers flying over their screens typing out messages, but it seems a break from its pervasiveness in everyday life.

We attended all four days of the fair this year, taking photos, talking with people, and observing those who came to enjoy the quality free music, the carnival rides, 4-H animal competitions, the rodeo, eat the fair food, walk through the barns, and see the winners in the many garden, canning, and craft competitions. What we saw was a way of life that is missing from too many of our daily routines these days.

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News
 

LAST ISSUE the headline in The Range Times read. After 109 years of brining the news to the community of Biwabik in northern Minnesota’s Iron Range, the newspaper printed its last edition Aug. 4.

“I’ve always said the weekly newspaper is the soul of the town,” publisher Gary D. Albertson told the nearby Mesabi Daily News in Virginia. “When you lose it, you lose your identity.”

No longer will a newspaper cover the city council, school board or county commission on a regular basis. Neighboring publications will give glimpses of the community, but won’t give the depth a local publication provides.

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News

“A political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument.”  -Definition of a demagogue

We have heard the term “demagogue” used a lot in this election year by both opponents of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and by political observers on the left as well as among mainstream Republicans. We have heard the word used regularly on television and radio, and read it in print. But what are all these people talking about when they refer to Trump as a demagogue and why is being one such an indictment of character?

by Reed Anfinson
Publisher, Swift County Monitor-News

At the Swift County Monitor-News we greatly appreciate the letters to the editor we receive. They give citizens of the community a voice for their thoughts and opinions, broadening the dialogue on issues, public officials, and candidates for office.

We always see an increase in the letters we receive as we enter the last months of an election year as supporters of candidates and people promoting policies they want to see enacted write us with their views. While we welcome letters to the editor, the Swift County Monitor-News has a few rules that we apply to letters before deciding whether they will be published.