A tale of two letters

It’s quite informative to do an A to B comparison of last week’s two letters responding to Dr. James Veltmeyer’s letter, Re: ‘Do we permit a virus to destroy our economy?’ [Village News, Letter, 03/26/20].

Kudos to Jeff Walker for his relevant, fact-based presentation. He makes it clear that Veltmeyer’s letter is an argument from ignorance. And the fact is, today Trump no longer holds the position that Veltmeyer is espousing.

I know it’s been hard for Trump followers as his position has evolved from “The coronavirus is a Democratic hoax” to “My hunch is it’ll be over in a couple of weeks” to “If we’re lucky, there will only be about 100,000 deaths…”

The other letter is many things, but factual is not one of them. It trots out several old Republican tropes like the Reagan-era “welfare queen.” It also has gratuitous advice on how to get out of living paycheck to paycheck. Currently, about half of America’s working population are living paycheck to paycheck. Rather than that many people being financially irresponsible, the problem is having a job does not necessarily equate to receiving a living wage.

And why all the politics anyway? First and foremost, the COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide medical and health problem. Second, it is a worldwide economic problem. Our first order of business must be to control the virus and treat the ill, in accordance with guidance provided by experts in the field – not politicians. The virus doesn’t care about a person’s party affiliation or nationality: until it is controlled, we are all at risk. Accordingly, we must act globally against this global threat.

John H. Terrell