Extreme over-reaction to this coronavirus
I am a retired physician who went to the same medical school as Dr. Anthony Fauci. I agree strongly with Kathryn Trauger’s opinion column in the Friday, May 22, in the Post Independent. There has been an extreme over-reaction at every level of government and especially by the media to this coronavirus. Many thousands of people die every year from complications of influenza, but we don’t shut down life as we know it during the flu season. Please reprint Ms. Trauger’s column every day until everyone who reads it (including our city council) comes to their senses and ends this silliness.
Nancy R. Schneider, MD, PhD
Glenwood Springs
Yes, it’s time to open
Support Local Journalism
I was impressed with Kathryn Trauger’s opinion article in the Post Independent on May 22 entitled, “It is time.” Yes, now is the time to reject the continuation of the unprecedented shut down of our nation due to the COVID-19 virus. Over 243 years, from 1776 to 2019, our country has never had a complete shutdown from sea to shining sea. We must open up our nation’s economy, our schools, and our lives, now, in order to overcome the devastating consequences a continued shutdown will bring. Trauger’s concluding message should be placed on the desk of every governor, county commissioner and mayor in our nation.
I’m quoting from her conclusions: “By keeping businesses shuttered you are beginning a cycle of homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, suicide, depression and economic ruin – from which will take decades to recover. It is time to minimize the losses and get back to work.”
I concur with the major concern expressed by educators in our country, as well as observations from scientists from Switzerland, Denmark and Iceland in that extended closures of schools will be damaging to the mental health of children.
Yes, it is time to open our nation and that includes our children’s classrooms.
Floyd Diemoz
Glenwood Springs
Tipton is out of touch
Why is Scott Tipton pushing to give $250 billion of taxpayer funds to bail out Boulder and other cities that don’t need the money? Why is he not fighting to spend the money more responsibly? The fact that Boulder’s super liberal Democrat Representative Joe Neguse introduced the bill should tell everyone what H.R. 6467 is all about. The fact that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of The Squad joined over 135 other Democrats to co-sponsor it should tell you more. The fact that Scott Tipton is one of only five Republicans, and the only one from Colorado to join them in co-sponsoring it should tell you everything you need to know about how out-of-touch Mr. Tipton has become during his 10 years in Congress. It’s not complicated. We didn’t elect Mr. Tipton to bail out Boulder.
Mr. Tipton has proven he’s no longer representing us.
I am voting for Lauren Boebert!
Juanita R. Williams
Parachute
Vote By Mail involves all in the process of governance
The United States is both a democracy and a republic. Most Americans are proud of the responsibilities and benefits of living in such a free and fragile environment. Democracies and republics are both forms of government in which supreme power resides in the citizens. The word “republic” refers specifically to a government in which those citizens elect representatives who govern according to the law. Democracy is a form of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodic free elections.
Our selected representation in governance is key to the survival of a free society. Voting is both a right and a privilege. The ability to vote by mail is a choice made by citizens who support the process of education, freedom, and the rights of all citizens to participate in the process with honesty, integrity and ease of participation.
As we move into this election season, we should recognize that the restrictions placed on the voting public when required to go to a specific site to vote include issues with access because of age, illness, distance from home, fear of attendance, work schedules that interfere with voting hours, lack of transit to voting sites, the Covid-19 pandemic, health issues, recommendations, child care and family care requirements, etc.
A Vote By Mail process is convenient, safe, honest, regulated and responsive to all citizens who are registered to vote. Many organizations, communities, counties, and states already successfully use a Vote By Mail process to involve all in the process of governance.
Dorothea Farris
Carbondale