Supercenter would be good in long run

Editor,

Well, the anti-Supercenter crowd are up on their hind legs and really putting the foot to the pedal. Mixed metaphors aside, I suspect the Firsters will next blame Wal-Mart for the plague, the Peloponnesian wars and maybe even the fall of the Roman Empire.

But let's keep track of the bottom line. In a democracy, the majority generally holds sway. Since it appears the overwhelming majority of Lake County citizens want the Supercenter, including the subset from the City of Polson, then it should be pretty easy for the planning board and the city council to do the right thing.

Even though I believe the Firsters are cutting off their noses to spite their faces, and my occasional ribbing notwithstanding, I know at a basic level they are serious and good people. Greg Hertz is a good man, a good citizen, and fighting along with the Firsters for things he and they believe are right.

In the face of that I want to reiterate why I think the new Supercenter would be the right thing at the right time for Polson and Lake County:

1. It will be a tremendous magnet towards helping to keep Lake County shoppers in Lake County. While business volume could initially drop for some businesses, I believe the economic pie will get so much bigger in Lake County because of the Supercenter, that well run businesses will be doing even better than before the Supercenter arrived.

2. Wouldn't it be nice not to have to drive dangerous Highway 93 to Kalispell or Missoula for a big shopping center experience, especially as rumors of $4 a gallon gas, or higher, are in the air?

3. The Supercenter will help Lake County to embrace globalization. Inevitably working conditions in Third World countries will improve just as they did 160 years ago in the England of Charles Dickens. The Third World workers will become ever more viable consumers. Our country will make things to sell to these consumers. The free market paradigm that Adam Smith propounded can work around the world just as it worked here. Where people have been oppressed free markets almost inevitably lead to free people and higher living standards.

The outcome of this Supercenter controversy is unknown. The planning board and city council may vote against Wal-Mart. I would be greatly disappointed, but if that is their judgment, so be it.

Whatever happens we are all still going to be living here in this special place. Even though this issue has divided us, we can still ultimately retain our civility and friendships while remembering that healthy debate and the freedom to have such, are part of what makes this country great.

Virgil Hess, Polson