In his opinion piece of June 18, Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad said that “we are witnessing a rise in vigilantism. Let me be clear about my terms here: ‘vigilante’ is defined as ‘a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority.’”

The mayor borrowed this definition from an internet search engine (look up “vigilante” on Bing) without giving due credit, which is neither transparent nor honest.

But even if we accept his chosen definition, the people he referred to did not undertake the enforcement of any laws. Therefore, they do not fit the definition of vigilantes and it seems the mayor was just constructing a straw man that he could knock down, a tactic that is all too typical of liberal politicians. In reality, those he referred to were essentially nothing more than volunteer community security guards, not vigilantes. They were just keeping the peace, not enforcing any laws.

Words have meanings, but liberals love to distort those meanings in order to sow confusion and chaos. How much can we trust those who so freely and deliberately destroy the distinction between terms like “vigilante” and “security”? Not much, I think. Not much at all.

Liberals have proven that they are not good at honesty or integrity. Therefore, in upcoming elections they should be voted out of office and replaced by those who are good at those things.

MONTE HEIL

Sagle