Opinion

At the close of Mr. Patten’s column in the Sept. 8 issue, he writes that “We need them (role models) desperately nowadays.”  If a basic definition of “role model” is “a person looked to by others as an example to be imitated” then he needn’t look too far for the most prevalent role models in contemporary society:  Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Josh Hawley, Rudy Giuliani (the list goes on) and of course the role-model-in-chief, Donald Trump.

Judging by the number of those who believe the continual lies about the 2020 election, and events in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, these are role models who have been slavishly imitated.  Mr. Patten probably did not have in mind role models exemplifying greed, prevarication, deceit, treachery . . . (the list goes on).