Defend preborn rights
Coronavirus is bipartisan
The coronavirus does not care about politics, branches of government or constitutions. It does not care how much we hope for a treatment and vaccine. It will continue to infect Democrats and Republicans, old and young, rich and poor until we “starve” it by all measures necessary to limit the number of people it can infect and use to multiply.
The fundamental techniques required to stop an infectious disease epidemic have not materially changed in 200 years. We need to prevent its transmission from one person to another.
Wisconsin is well on its way to providing the needed testing, the needed public health workers, and the needed personal protective equipment to protect all of its citizens. Success requires leadership and cooperation from all levels of government. We urge Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to do what is necessary to set differences aside and work together to find the best means to protect citizens from the health and economic perils that COVID-19 has wrought.
George Morris
President Wisconsin Medical Society
Clyde “Bud” Chumbley
CEO Wisconsin Medical Society
Start with gerrymandering
If state Sen. Dale Kooyenga and Rep. Daniel Riemer worry about “the rules that guide elections,” they should start with partisan gerrymandering. Both parties are guilty of it and the post-Census battle will be ferocious. Using current maps, voting for five or 50 candidates won’t change anything. Gerrymandering means parties and incumbents pick the voters, not vice versa.
Bipartisanship is unnecessary to represent ideologically-tilted districts. In fact, constituents actively cheer your refusal to reach across the aisle. While creating dissatisfaction with Washington, it’s a primary contributor to high House re-election rates.
In 2018, Rep. Kooyenga scored an 89% rating from the American Conservative Union and Rep. Riemer earned a 100% rating from the Wisconsin AFLCIO. Did they promote bipartisanship in re-election mailers and press releases? Cooperation won’t win their safe seats in Brookfield and Milwaukee. They would risk losing to a more extreme candidate.
Let’s implement an Iowa-style nonpartisan legislative redistricting commission. Or consult FiveThirtyEight’s article “The Atlas of Redistricting.” Making our districts more representative may produce better representation.
I applaud them for starting the dialogue. It won’t earn them recognition with peers, extra PAC donations or constituent votes. No candidate or party would gain appreciably by its implementation.
That’s why this plan deserves a fair debate.
Recently, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asserted, “If it’s public health vs. the economy, the only choice is public health. You cannot put a value on human life. You do the right thing.”
Leaders of the Democrat Party believe that if it’s women’s reproductive rights vs. preborn infants’ basic human rights (e.g., the right to life and recognition as a person), the choice is women’s reproductive rights. They believe they can put a value on preborn human life.
Proponents of abortion make the nexus of this life-and-death issue “women’s reproductive freedom.” They dehumanize preborn infants and assail those who seek to defend them. In spite of their dogma and efforts, these truths are prima facie: abortion murders preborn infants and strips them of basic human rights.
Since Roe v. Wade, America’s abortion violence epidemic has resulted in the massacre of more than 52 million preborn humans. Truly, the beneficent thing, the right thing, is to defend preborn infants’ basic human rights.
Caleb Bernhardt
Allouez
The start of mail voting
In the May 11 PolitiFact column, the headline read: “Election by mail illegal in Wisconsin” and rates it “True”.
The article then explores the details of why universal mail-in voting is not possible in Wisconsin at this time without legislative action (and good luck with that).
However, right now you can request an absentee ballot for the August primary and November presidential election. That means the election folks would have everything they need to send you a ballot as soon as they become available.
It’s not universal mail-in voting in Wisconsin, but if we all took responsibility now to do this, things could at least be better in our next election.
A union for MLB fans?
All Major League Baseball fans are anxiously waiting for another baseball season to get started. And I’m absolutely sure all of the billionaire team owners and the millionaire baseball players feel that way, too. They might possibly even feel more anxious than we are.
But while they are working out how to share the billions of dollars in revenue that empty stadiums don’t provide, maybe this is the perfect time for us fans to get into their discussions, too. We could form a fan’s union and politely ask that monetary caps be put on the fan’s costs, i.e. tickets, parking, concessions. It’d be a great way for the owners and players to show their appreciation for all the years fans have supported them.
Please email your letters to jsedit@jrn.com, or mail them to Letters to the editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, P.O. Box 371, Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-0371. Letters should be about 200 words.
LUCIUS NIEMAN
Robert J. Van Eerden Sr.
HARRY J. GRANT
SOLOMON JUNEAU