Unvaccinated putting themselves ahead of everyone else
I got the two COVID vaccines in the spring. I stay home a lot, wear a mask in public and avoid large public gatherings. How do the large number of people who refuse to get vaccinated affect someone like me? I have a medical emergency unrelated to COVID and have been bleeding in the emergency room for hours, waiting to see a doctor. What is taking so long? The emergency rooms are full of the unvaccinated, sick with COVID. These people put themselves and their needs ahead of everyone else. The people who work here must be tired and burned out from treating those who are choking our healthcare system with mostly preventable illnesses.
JONI PELTA, ATLANTA
State revenue surplus should be spent responsibly
Once again, Georgia is reporting a “huge revenue surplus.” Tax rates are supposed to be set to produce needed revenue in a quantity that won’t abuse taxpayers. Unfortunately, forecasts of spending do not play out exactly as expected; neither do forecast revenues. Has Georgia paid our proper bills? Did Georgia forcibly take money that was not needed from the taxpayers? I was once owed my Georgia tax refund for over six months, forcing me to give an interest-free loan to the state, while I had to pay interest on money borrowed to pay some of my necessary living costs, such as repairs. The legislature should responsibly decide where to apply these funds. Needs, not just wish lists, should be accommodated. Sometimes the proper needs to be filled should be to relieve the extortion done to taxpayers, rather than only “needs” of wish-fulfilling by tax-spenders (government.)
TOM STREETS, ATLANTA
Political system is being perverted to pick winners and losers
We Americans usually believe in free and open markets. Government should not be involved in picking winners or losers. However, it should enact policies to maintain competition and set regulations to protect workers and the environment and avoid other undesired consequences. So why don’t politicians apply those same principles to politics? Why do we allow politicians to manipulate election laws, gerrymander districts, allow essentially no restrictions on campaign donations, and otherwise pervert the marketplace of political ideas to pick winners and losers? A partisan monopoly is just as objectionable as a business monopoly. Doing the things legislative majorities do to give themselves and their political party favor is undemocratic, unethical, self-serving corruption. Also, it is counter to the free-market principles we all are supposed to prize.
DUANE M. FORD, COVINGTON
Professor out of bounds to require student masks
A Georgia College associate professor informs us that he was refusing to honor the state of Georgia’s requirements on masking, “We’re teaching in ‘COVID factories,’” (Insights, Sept. 22). He piously claims to “teach my students to speak truth to power” while refusing to recognize he is the “power” that his students likely are afraid to address with their truth.
He says he took one of his classes online without approval, and he requires students to wear masks in his classroom. He pompously claims his students willingly complied with his demand, but anyone who has attended a college class knows that students know who gives the grades and that they best not “offend the grade-giver.”
The professor advised us that he does not really need this job and is prepared to leave. Although presenting his stance as a moral obligation, he is actually just another aging, left-wing journalist spouting his inanities. Show him the door!
ERNEST WADE, LOGANVILLE
