America’s West divided

OPINION:

We moved to Portland, Oregon, eight years ago thinking we had arrived in a walkable utopia. In short order — bad laws, authoritarian politicians and a “woke” citizenry let criminals run amok, then COVID-19 struck.

Headlines proclaiming the end of COVID-19 mask mandates don’t mean much in Portland where the locals know what’s really happening. Parents and employees have received letters proclaiming that the city and state mandates set to expire will continue for the foreseeable future. Signs have been posted overnight on doors to businesses reading “masks still required” and proof-of-vaccine to enter establishments remain. A new “going against the guidance” trend is gaining popularity among Portland elites who were earlier insisting that we “follow the science.”

Despite a serious existing problem with homelessness and drug addiction, for two years, Oregon has focused almost solely on imposing the nation’s most drastic COVID-19 restrictions. Oregon alone required masks outdoors for everyone starting at age two.

The masking obsession created a paranoid and divided populace. Parents draw chalk lines marking where their children can play in the street. Frightened and masked youngsters play alone outside and run to hide behind shrubs if they see someone unmasked even yards away. Our children were ostracized because they were unvaccinated.

Shoppers jump away from one another even when double- and triple-masked or wearing plastic face shields on top of it all. Everyone scans their six-foot perimeter to ensure nobody violates this personal space while living where trash, urine and human feces lie uncollected on the sidewalks and in the city’s parks.

A defunded police force and overwhelmed first responders cannot keep up with an explosion in crime, drug overdoses and shootings, which are up 800%. Fires occur nightly from riots and in the hundreds of tent cities scattered throughout Portland. With drug decriminalization, hard drug use on streets and parks in broad daylight is rampant, used needles and trash piles abound; recently two Portland Public School students died of fentanyl overdoses in 24 hours and a woman gave birth on a downtown street only to abandon her newborn on the sidewalk.

Downtown Portland looks and feels like a war zone with public squares fenced off, its city hall, courthouse and most businesses boarded up with plywood. Public art including a statue of a deer torn down during “social justice” riots two years ago have not been repaired. The city’s rich culture and history are only a “Clockwork Orange” memory.

Once happy liberals who voted Democratic, our family joined those fleeing Oregon last month. We moved to Montana, a state that Oregon progressives often deride as backward, and last week shopped at a grocery store as a family of five for the first time with our toddler who had previously been limited to exploring every corner of the house and backyard. My wife and I wept as smiling unmasked grandmas elated our children with social chatter. We marveled at aisles that were not marked with one-way traffic tape.

As we drove from the store to our new home, we were in awe as other drivers waved and smiled at us.

Montana boasts low crime rates, pristine natural landscapes, abundant wildlife, strong community ties and is one of the most internet-connected states in the U.S. Businesses or facilities can no longer require proof of vaccination, vaccine passports and vaccination for employment or entry with the passage of HB 702, the first of its kind in America passed as Pfizer released data demonstrating critics of the vaccine mandates were correct even as they were demonized.

My wife faced years of regulations and hundreds of thousands of dollars to create a small bakery, her lifelong dream, in Oregon. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte’s Montana Local Food Choice Act (SB 199) deregulated homemade and small-scale producers to stimulate local economies, increase food security, move the state away from dependence on processed foods and prioritize consumers’ freedom of choice meaning she can finally launch her business here.

Our new neighbors often describe their state as “the last best place” and they may be right because they elect men and women to public office who share their commitment to freedom. The people of other states can do the same. Our family has lived in a future none of us want and learned that freedom is fragile. Let’s work to keep it.

• Brian Martinez, now a resident of Montana, is the grandson of African/Latino farm laborers who immigrated to America to find a more free and prosperous life. He studied literature at UC Santa Cruz, is a musician and father of three and has been working as a paralegal for the last 15 years.