LETTER: ‘Haste brings failures’
‘Haste brings failures’
Again, Republicans take an extreme position and attribute it to the entire Democratic platform. In response to Dave Ball’s May 15 op-ed: It is not a binary choice between starving, going bankrupt or both. We need to open up the economy in an optimal way and manner that will minimize any need to shut down again. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus said, “Haste brings failures” and in ancient Rome, the expression was, “Make haste slowly.” Donald Trump has to appear to be doing something to spark his failing polls.
I agree that Abraham Lincoln was an excellent president. However, he never espoused a belief that freedom doesn’t come without sacrifices and the common cause requires we citizens to do our duty. In fact, Lincoln attempted to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and the Bill of Rights during the Civil War. Read Ex Parte Merryman and learn that Chief Justice Taney rejected Lincoln’s conduct.
Do you really believe that every regulation brings an attack on our basic liberty even for our protection from COVID-19? Governor Wolf ordered what was in our best interest for economic and physical health. Our wartime president ignored intelligence warnings of the forthcoming pandemic. He closed offices in 2018 assigned to monitor pandemic outbreaks.
When we needed leadership, he lacked a plan and passed the buck to the governors, taking credit if they succeed and shifts blame to them if they fail. What is Trump’s plan? The Centers for Disease Control promulgated guidelines for states to open up. Trump suppressed them. The scientists and public health officials are not “unelected functionaries,” as Ball dismissively calls them. Their knowledge demands respect.
Speaking of individual liberty, it’s ironic that the president doesn’t use the Defense Production Act to develop vaccines. He won’t tell a corporation what to do, but orders poor working men into a contaminated plant? How’s that respect for individual liberty, Mr. Ball?
There was a time when we would make sacrifices for the collective good. During the 1918 influenza pandemic, my mother and five siblings were crowded into a South Bronx tenement. Her baby brother died. I asked what happened. “They quarantined us; we waited it out. What are you gonna do? You can’t let it spread.” Imagine! No complaints, no blaming the government, no AR-15s. A total reliance that the government knew best. That generation wouldn’t dream of contradicting legitimate, valid expertise.
Trump was asked recently, “What’s your plan?” He framed the question as rude.
Michael Fagella
McMurray{&end}