An Open Letter to Politicians and Media

Dear President, Governors, and mainstream media,

In a time of crisis, society needs its leaders to act for the good of the nation, not for their own selfish interests.  You are deepening in our nation the infection of a culture circling the drain. 

Media: CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, The Atlantic, etc.,

We know the political Left has a vested political interest in hurting the economy as much as they can right now, which is their best chance to hurt Trump’s chances of winning in November.  And we know you are an arm of that left.  You pursue that agenda hard, with every broadcast and issue.  You ask “gotcha” questions of our President all day.  Would the Trump daily press conferences be as hostile if Hillary Clinton were the president?  Would the Cuomo pressers be as friendly if it were a conservative?  No, you have an agenda that is no longer even hidden.  This is journalistic malpractice and you should stop it.  

Stop making your opinion the news, and report the facts.  There was a time journalists knew enough not to inject their views into their work.  Stop highlighting only the good of Democrats and only the faults of Republicans.  Why is Georgia’s governor the devil, experimenting with human sacrifice (an actual headline of yours!!) for reopening, while Democratic governors who have taken similar steps get a pass?  Your agenda is obvious and despicable, given your high-flown rhetoric about the importance of journalism, and its role in preserving free speech.  You abuse your media platform for your own purposes, which will degrade first amendment freedoms for all of us in the long run.

Civil leaders:  Mr. President, Governors,

Please don’t blindly follow one set of experts over others.  You take medical opinions as undoubted truth, and conform an entire nation to its prescription, regardless of the cost.  No, it is up to you to weigh input from various fields and set your policy.  Have the courage to do this, rather than just do whatever the doctors say.  Thomas Sowell has described well the difference between liberals and conservatives.  Liberals see the world as a place of goals and visions, and obstacles to them.  Conservatives see the world as a place of tradeoffs between various worthy priorities.  I would urge you to see your task in terms of the latter.

Avoid self-congratulatory answers to questions.  Be honest with us about the risks of the policies you pursue – there will inevitably be some in this crisis.  You don’t have a fool-proof, bullet-proof, fail-safe policy, so be straight with us.  Stop prioritizing you getting re-elected, over serving the people.  In these times, the two can conflict, and your political courage is badly needed to help us.

Why must we remain in lockdown now that the curve has flattened, and medical capacity was not exceeded?  We all know a second wave is coming, but we must also restart an economy that has had a heart attack, and is now going without oxygen to the brain with each passing week.  Medically, and economically, this causes longer term damage the longer it goes on.  We cannot wait until there is a vaccine or until there is little risk of infection to reopen.

Let us follow the path of Sweden, reopen, risk more cases as our supply of ventilators, etc., increases, develop more immunity, and get back to work.  We are not looking to you to keep us completely safe and disease free – that is not your job, and we will not fault you for it come election time.  But making decisions that only take one (medical) factor into account, no matter any other cost, will be catastrophic for our society and your political future.

Finally, politicians, please trust us to do the right thing and social distance as best we can.  Your role is not to mother us with detailed edicts, threats and penalties, but to provide information for responsible citizens to act upon as they see fit.  We understand the need in a medical crisis to act all together according to certain strict hygienic standards.  But many of us would rather take the medical risk than forfeit our freedoms to your overdone injunctions and civil penalties.

Signed, 

We the people, of the United States of America, whom you are called to serve.