In response to Betty Bean’s Oct. 8 article.
I recently moved to Tennessee after following the situation with the Board of Health for a few months.
I see this situation very differently than Ms. Bean.
I have followed state Rep. Jason Zachary for months on his position with this. He has made it clear the issue is about a lot more than masks and COVID. It is about whether an unelected body should be allowed to make laws. Our Founders were clear about this. The legislative body makes laws. I agree with Rep. Zachary. The concerns of abuse are valid. Whether those concerns will actually happen is up for debate.
Why is this? Because we the people have the ability to vote out people who do things we do not like. That is democracy in action. We are having a battle now over the US Supreme Court because both sides of the political spectrum depend on unelected judges to make law. In order to be a functional society, we must sit down and talk about our issues and disagreements. Both sides of the political spectrum have failed in this. We must do better.
I have joined the group Ms. Bean mentioned and talked with many of these people. They have a surprisingly diverse background. They have different reasons for their position. Some simply refuse to comply. Some have medical issues, present company included. Some are in the medical community and know the best practices for using PPE and know that the average person is not following it.
We hear regularly about how the health board has the experts here. That perplexes me as one member is a superintendent and another is a veterinarian. Not sure what their credentials are for infectious disease.
What we need to do is have an open conversation about this. Yelling, screaming at, mocking, deriding the opposing side is not helpful. We are all adults here. This applies to people on all sides of this issue.
I live by a phrase in politics. If something is such a great idea, convince me of my own free will to do it. I, along with many others, am listening. Can other sides on this issue say the same?
Sean Murphy moved to Knoxville from Connecticut where he wrote for multiple newspapers.