Letters to the editor: COVID and schools, Voting Rights Act, Trump, Idaho budget
COVID and schools
Dear Mayor McLean,
My name is Morgan Baker and I am a teacher at Sage International School of Boise. As you may be aware, Sage implemented an emergency closure for the rest of our academic week (last week) due to rising COVID case numbers across the student body and staff. Sage had no other choice. I am currently at home, as are all my students, with no learning taking place.
I am a big supporter of yours. However, today I am writing to you in disappointment over the city’s response to this recent COVID surge and with a respectful plea to please do more.
I cannot tell you the toll COVID has taken on my students over these past two years. These disruptions to our routine, however short, are nothing less than devastating. Schools should be the last things forced to close, not some of the first. There is too much on the line.
I respectfully ask that you take a bolder stance against the pandemic apathy our city has descended into. Boise needs a mask mandate for all businesses and restrictions to allow for adequate social distancing, effective immediately. Boise is a city that prides itself on being kind. Being vigilant, right now, is being kind.
Morgan Baker, Boise
Voting Rights Act
Senators Crapo, Risch and Congressman Fulcher,
The right to vote is the very foundation of our system of government. That right is under attack in many states. Laws are being passed to make voting more difficult, especially for the poor and disadvantaged, and to give partisan officials the power to overturn election results. These laws are antithetical to our democratic system.
The right and ability to vote should not depend on where you live. No official should have the power to decide whether your vote counts. Gerrymandering for political gain should be abolished. The voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.
I believe we are at a critical juncture in our nation’s history. Strong forces are pushing us toward autocracy and oligarchy. Freedom and democracy are threatened. The very idea of a government of, by and for the people is in jeopardy. I fear for the future of our beloved country.
You, my representatives, have the power to decide which way we go — toward freedom for all, or rule by the few. I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to vote for the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Patrick L. Gibson, Eagle
Trump influence
Idaho has a proud history of independent thought and action. But Senator Crapo and Rep. Fulcher are not representing Idaho’s independent interests. They are sycophants who are told what to think by a man in Florida. They fear to speak their mind and defend Idaho’s independent interests. Yet they are going to ask you to send them back to the taxpayer feeding trough this fall. Their blind fealty to a Florida billionaire, along with the fealty of Sen. Risch and Rep. Simpson, is evidenced by their complete lack of action to defend our constitutional democracy after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, the first such assault since the War of 1812. Staying silent, or defending something you know to be a lie, is the opposite of what independent leadership looks like. Their inaction to protect our Constitution is evidence they put their political life before our democracy. So much blood was shed by the brave to protect our democracy, yet their goal is cowardly self-preservation of their political life, to maintain power and privilege no matter the cost to independent-minded Idahoans. Regardless of party preference, does Idaho really want blind fealty? Idaho deserves independent-minded representation.
Ron Williams, Eagle
Idaho budget
The Idaho “household budget.”
Honey, our family is growing so fast.
We need to add on a room or two.
We need a bigger vehicle.
And that stove and oven must be replaced because of all your great cooking.
Plumbing leak? Oh, yeah, that has to be repaired before anything else.
That Christmas bonus I got is not nearly enough to do all this.
Tomorrow I will go to my boss first thing and ask him to reduce my salary.
Steve Rostron, Boise