Government with integrity is needed

Editor:

Concerning the letter, "Why vote in 2026?" (Times, Feb. 5), written on behalf of the Gunnison County Democratic Party Issues Committee: Observing the massive fraud and corruption going down in Minnesota and California at the moment, I agree with the letter's author that "We need to vote for a government with integrity," but ending one's letter with an unsubstantiated so-called "quote" from Margaret Mead, a deceased cultural anthropologist, is not the way to do it. For instance, Dr. Mead's sexual research on the island of Samoa (1928) has justifiably drawn considerable criticism over the years not only from her critics, but from some of those she allegedly interviewed on Samoa. Since "integrity" means the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, in my opinion the lack of morals and ethics on display from the late Dr. Mead is a poor choice to be used following the context of this author's letter.

Dr. Mead's loose insights regarding sexual relationships, reinforced by her fame at the time, did a lot of damage to the moral fabric of the western world, of which we are still quite culturally dysfunctional from.

I know that she was a conservative, but perhaps quoting the "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of Great Britain (1979-90), would have been a far better choice?

Jon Matuszczak

Gunnison