Letters to the editor: Stay home, Trump, medical decisions, Capt. Crozier
Stay home
Re: “Essential” vs “non-essential” businesses article 4/5/20.
With all due respect to Ms. Heigel (pictured in Willey’s furniture store), she’s doing what all the medical authorities are telling us is inappropriate for our city right now. She’s shopping, she’s not wearing a face mask and who knows if the leather chair she’s trying out will get wiped down with disinfectant. Willey’s made the argument that they needed to be classified as essential in order to sell refrigerators and other appliances, but it doesn’t appear that Ms. Heigel needs a fridge! All of our citizens need to take the “stay at home” order seriously and do their part to contain this virus for everyone’s sake. Please people.
Cora Yanacek, Boise
Medical decisions
I’m a member of that senior demographic group which will be directly impacted by the choices medical ethicists will soon need to make: to ventilate or not.
I fully understand the scarcity of ventilators. I fully understand that younger patients will/should have first dibs on the use of said equipment and I agree with those decisions. I’ve had a good life, a good run. If it’s time to exit so that someone else might live, I choose exit!
In return for my choice to NOT be ventilated, I want a guarantee from those same ethicists who make that final call. As I’ve lived my life with dignity, I want a dignified death. I do not choose to suffocate, gasping for breath, a miserable and prolonged death. It’s not humane or dignified...nor is it a fair trade for my choice!
So here’s the deal. I choose to exit: no ventilator. I choose a dignified death with a quiet and quick exit, easily done with drugs and an IV line, as every medical professional knows. I would execute a “hold harmless” legal release. This is not complicated. It’s actually very simple: my life, my choice.
Dyan Loya, Meridian
Trump
President Trump has done the nearly impossible under the most adverse conditions. He has created 7 million new jobs, cutting unemployment to its lowest level in 50 years. His performance in cutting the unemployment rate for blacks and Hispanics to its lowest level in history. He appointed constitutionalists to the Supreme Court. He negotiated new trade agreements with several countries to be more favorable for America. His tax cuts have helped our economy a lot. By slashing federal regulations that were crushing business he has helped our economy. His impact on Isis exceeds all expectations. He is between us and the sociaist anti-God party.
Shirley A. Sirman, Boise
Stay home
I continue to be amazed by the number of people in Idaho who refuse to wear masks or maintain separation necessary to protect family, friends and neighbors. They claim the coronavirus is no more dangerous or even less so than the annual flu and is nothing more than a media event and/or that local and state governments cannot enforce stay-at-home orders. They claim this violates their constitutional right to assemble. But that is just not true. For the unlicensed constitutional lawyers claiming their rights are violated, know this: There are many limits to the rights contained in the Bill of Rights. Not everyone is allowed to buy or possess firearms or take them anywhere. Not all free speech is free. The right to freely assemble which could place others at risk is not free. Local governments can limit parades, marches and demonstrations when they present a hazard to its citizens’ health and safety. In short, your freedom is limited when it violates someone else’s freedom.
Danny Braudrick, Nampa
Crozier
When Captain Brett Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt put his career on the line by identifying a problem and thereby saving his men from potential danger, he demonstrated genuine leadership.
Addressing problems through the “chain of command” could result in delay, indecision, or paralysis. Ostensibly, few leaders would be willing to upset this administration initially bent on denying any COVID 19 problem. As a former naval officer, I greatly admired and respect Captain Crozier’s courage to sound whatever alarms he deemed necessary to communicate the severity of the situation.
As a high ranking career naval officer, he was well aware of the probable negative consequences of his action. Nevertheless, his concern for the well being of his men superseded any personal ambition of his.
Respect and loyalty from the crew were the result of his honorable leadership.
Regrettably , the captain of our ship of state has no such moral conviction. This nation can observe two distinctly different leadership traits. Which type will this nation applaud, emulate or ultimately reward.
If Idaho voters are any indication, we will be experiencing four more years of Trump.
Jim Franklin, Meridian