No proof lockdown in NM has saved lives

Governor Lujan’s response letter to state Republican senators on ending the lockdown has several incorrect points that should be noted.

She claims that no science supports the senators’ position and says that New Mexico’s low numbers are due to her policies of lockdown. In fact, no science supports her position. There is no proof that the lockdown here — as opposed to the more voluntary measures enacted by Sweden — has saved lives. There are likely many other factors in New Mexico’s low numbers, such as our warmer climate (which can make a difference according to some studies); our clean air (living in New York a long time results in having lungs similar to having smoked much of your life).

Meanwhile, doctors are declaring that the lockdown itself also affects health and general welfare.

Another point that is not made anywhere is that many more new babies have been born in the U.S. — and will continue to be — than there are casualties of the present situation. In other words, when we ruin our economy, we are doing that to the newborns coming every week, which far outnumber our casualties.

There are many reasons that the lockdown and its mandates should be ended. We should stop staring at the numbers on our phones and screens, and start living for the living, including the newborns whose numbers are not displayed every day in the news.

W. A. YOUNG Santa Fe

We are paying an incredibly high price for the degradation of our politics, democratic institutions, and civil discourse. For the first three years of this presidency, it seemed like the attacks on minorities, immigrants, the rule of law, a free press, the environment, truth, and common decency were as bad as it could get. Now, unfortunately, we have seen how much more damage can be done by the divisiveness and immorality coming from the top.

It is costing lives, livelihoods, and futures. Even a pandemic can’t seem to bring us together. Somehow, we have to find a way to do better.

Here in the 3rd Congressional District, we are very fortunate to have a well-qualified and diverse group of candidates running in the Democratic primary. For the most part, they have campaigned on what they have to offer from their varied life experiences, rather than tearing each other down. However, on the eve of the primary, unknown, out-ofstate organizations with anonymous funding are pouring huge sums of advertising money into the race to viciously defame one of the candidates, Valerie Plame. The ads are offensive and outrageous, and they should be loudly condemned by every candidate in the race.

I am biased; my wife has been working on Ms. Plame’s campaign for the past year. That’s because we admire her and believe she would be an outstanding representative of all the people in this district. She is smart, compassionate, and a fighter. During her career in government service, she put her life on the line to help protect our national security. She is fearless and resilient. She also has run an entirely positive campaign, listening to and learning from the people she hopes to represent, without attacking any of her opponents.

Regardless of which candidate you support, we should all agree that the kind of hateful and dishonest rhetoric that is the norm for the current administration in Washington has no place in a Democratic primary in this district. Ms. Plame does not have a hateful bone in her body, and I believe the same is true of the other candidates in the race.

The voters and candidates should emphatically reject and disavow any efforts by dark-money organizations from outside our state to drag down a campaign with ugly and defamatory attacks on any candidate. That kind of politics has contributed to the mess we are in. We are still much better than that in this district, thankfully.

JARED BARLIANT Santa Fe