Our dysfunctional nation
Wear a face mask
Why do people refuse to wear face masks? They keep saying “respect my freedom” Sorry, but that is poppycock!
Federal law dictates that you cannot buy cigarettes until you are 21 years of age.
You cannot buy alcohol in Wisconsin until you are 21, nor can you get a driver’s license until you are 16.
When you are driving your car on the roads, there are laws covering almost everything you do while you are in that car. From wearing seat belts, which side of the road to drive on, to stop signs, traffic lights, and who has the right of way.
There are thousands of laws like this, most written, some unwritten, and no one is complaining about “respect my freedom.” Because they serve a purpose. They protect people.
Wearing a face mask does the same thing. It protects people. It protects the people around you from getting the virus if you have it (you can have the virus and not know it) and to a lesser degree can protect the wearer from getting it.
Forget the “respect my freedom” argument; join the fight against the disease.
Waste of money
Jack Douthitt
Fox Point
I am extremely upset that the Wisconsin Elections Commission and my state Rep. Daniel Riemer are willing to waste $2.25 million to send absentee ballot requests to 2.7 million registered voters. Many will already be receiving an absentee ballot and most will vote early or in person on Nov. 3. All are or were competent and responsible enough to request absentee ballots on their own.
Don Carlson
Greenfield
Another redistricting fight
As I read the June 4 article, “Fight begins over next round of redistricting,” it became clear that a battle looms over how Wisconsin will redistrict after the 2020 census.
There are forces that want to change the rules again. It is becoming a continuing political strategy when it appears that the Legislature’s majority may lose control of a situation, they simply move to change the rules.
It is a shame to see people trade their honor for control.
We have a hodgepodge of laws, rules, regulations, customs cobbled together over time by tens of thousands of overwhelmingly white men with little or no expertise in the subjects they are voting on to control the population.
A person of either party could move from one state to another and feel they moved to a different planet.
We have the most powerful military in the world, one which could destroy the world many times over, yet the returning veterans with emotional and physical scarring are forced to place television commercials begging for funds for wounded warriors.
The country is an economic powerhouse, yet millions don’t know where their next meal is coming from, and dairy farmers are flushing milk and crop farmers are tilling their crops under because what they earn doesn’t cover the cost of production.
We have a dysfunctional health system where millions of people have no coverage and millions more are one illness away from bankruptcy, yet nothing is done to fix these issues.
We have a black athlete take a knee in protest of unequal justice based on color get blackballed out of the league and a white athlete, arguably of lesser skills, gain five yards on a play and take a knee