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Wednesday, November 4, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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What will survive the
coronavirus?
By Erik Dolson
Columnist
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer¾s name, address and phone
number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily
shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted
to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The
deadline for all letters is 10 a.m. Monday.
To the Editor:
Like many of you, I am more than ready
for this presidential election season to end,
but I’m trying to prepare myself for the like-
lihood that on November 4 we still may not
have validated results in many races, includ-
ing perhaps for the highest office in the land.
This election is unprecedented. Because of
COVID-19, many more people than usual
are voting absentee or with mail-in ballots.
We’re lucky in Oregon to have a great system
for this, but in other states counting all those
ballots will take time, especially in regions
where the clerks aren’t allowed to start count-
ing until Election Day.
It is absolutely critical that we have the
patience to wait until all votes are counted
to make calls on close races. Just this spring,
journalists called the Democratic primary race
for Secretary of State for Mark Hass, but by
the time all votes were counted Shemia Fagan
was the nominee. We can’t make this mistake
now.
Every vote cast must be counted, and this
shouldn’t be a partisan issue. If we don’t
protect the results of this election by count-
ing every vote, then we are betraying our
American democracy.
Amber Keyser
ó
ó
To the Editor:
I must make this correction to my com-
mentary last week The Nugget, page 2): The
statement, “There has never been a vaccine for
a respiratory virus” should have read, “There
has never been a vaccine for a coronavirus.”
Monica Tomosy
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To the Editor:
I agree somewhat with C. Kearney on
clearing fire hazards in Sisters City Limits if
done with minimal cost to business and home
owners.
I drove back from Salem on Highway 22
and it made me sick to see the devastation
from the fires. I also drove nine miles west of
Sisters into the woods a month ago; it’s in dire
need of cleanup to help prevent fires.
Part of the millions of dollars of fire fight-
ing should go for prevention. Prisoners would
like to leave their cells and do this; also a
great job for summer high schoolers and col-
lege attendants with professional leadership.
In the past the environmentalists and
unions have fought this idea. It’s time for
them to help, not obstruct.
Chet Davis
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Sisters Weather Forecast
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Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Mostly Sunny
Rain
Rain/Snow Showers Partly Cloudy
68/51
58/32
41/22
40/23
Monday
Sunday
Partly Cloudy
Mostly Sunny
34/15
39/22
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The coronavirus is a
once-in-a-generation event.
As it has ended many lives,
going forward it will define
many others. It will perhaps
define our country, what we
have become and who we
will be.
The virus is an insidious
enemy, spreading among
people who do not appear to
be sick. It can attack in ter-
rifying ways, causing blood
clots and strokes in young
and seemingly healthy peo-
ple, invading the lungs in
a way that does not cause
shortness of breath until
there is too little oxygen for
life.
But the damage is not
suffered just by individu-
als with the virus, and their
families. Our economy tee-
ters on the edge as we try
to limit a death toll that
has reached 230,000 in this
country alone. We have
had to change how we live.
The coronavirus and its
aftermath are threats to the
whole country, a threat to
the whole world.
One argument against
the U.S. going to war
against the Nazis was they
were “over there,” on the
other side of a great moat
that separated America
from Europe. That was a
false argument then, too,
but there are no moats any
more, if there ever were,
against disease.
Diseases like this are
wars between species, and
ours is under threat. It’ s the
type of threat that requires
us to come together as a
people, as humanity. It is a
threat that should unite us in
a battle where our collective
will can overcome an alien
species that takes individ-
ual lives and may destroy
whole nations.
Others here know history
far better than I, but phrases
from past crises come to
mind. “A house divided
against itself cannot stand,”
“United we stand, divided
we fall.”
America has excelled
when faced with this type of
challenge. Acknowledging
Winston Churchill’s back-
handed compliment,
“You can always count on
Americans to do the right
thing — after they’ve tried
everything else,” we have
done the right thing, and we
prevailed. We saved count-
less lives, we saved nations,
we saved democracy, we
saved freedom.
But we did it together.
Trump’s strategy of
spreading fear and loath-
ing, divide and conquer,
winning is all that mat-
ters, has been shockingly
successful in this Age of
Facebook where ideologies
are reinforced and common
interests buried. The strat-
egy helped Trump take over
the Republican party and
helped Republicans capture
the debate of what it means
to be an American.
But over the last year, it’s
been obvious that strategy
is the wrong way to fight
the coronavirus. The virus
is not contained in New
York. The Midwest is not
a separate world. Louisiana
is not south of the border.
We can’t shrug and let each
state take care of their own.
We are in this together.
We can’t let urban states
go bankrupt, as if they
didn’t support rural states
with money and expertise
as they do. We can’t let
rural states suffer as if their
culture wasn’t a crucial
strength of America, as we
have in the past. We can’t
turn our backs on anyone.
If the virus hides out in a
pocket in Kentucky, or in
Africa, it will escape and
come for the rest of us.
I am not advocating
action as a liberal. There
are many liberal agendas
I do not support, and there
are left-wing interests I feel
are destructive. But now is
not the time to take sides.
Despite two generations of
depletion by liberals and
deconstruction by conser-
vatives, America united still
has the ability to lead the
world in this fight against
an enemy that could kill any
of us, and destroy all of us.
But only if we stand
shoulder to shoulder.
If we can own our indi-
vidual responsibility to
America, and to humanity,
we will defeat the corona-
virus and future generations
will look upon America
with appreciation, and per-
haps incorporate the princi-
ples on which she was built
of value to each of us.
If our efforts are driven
by selfishness, pettiness,
and discord, if divided,
we will fail. The great
American experiment will
have been nothing more
than a great American
Dream unfulfilled,
American exceptionalism
will have been an exception
we never meant it to be.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.