Letters: Equity rewards the undeserving, U.S. botches pandemics, Jan. 6 and more

Never forget Pa. congressmen who sought to overturn fair election

Jan 6. 2021, was one of the darkest days in our history. What did President Trump's bootlicking toadies have to say on the anniversary? Did any of them finally show honesty and the courage to denounce Trump and apologize for their own actions?

During January and February, incumbent congressmen will announce if they’re running for reelection. We’ll see how many of the cowards who created the conditions for the insurrection at the Capitol will try to remain in the office they don’t deserve.

We must remember the horror and disgust we felt when we, and the whole world, watched the Trump-inspired mob attack the very symbol of our democracy. Never forget this.

Seven Pennsylvania congressmen joined a Texas lawsuit trying to overturn the electoral votes. They are G.T. Thompson, Mike Kelly, Fred Keller, Scott Perry, John Joyce, Dan Meuser, and Guy Reschenthaler.

Then, on Jan. 6, these seven and fellow Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Lloyd Smucker fled for their lives when rioters attacked, then returned to vote against accepting the certified electoral college votes. This makes them traitors to the Constitution they swore to defend and not deserving of another term, in my view.

Remember what happened last Jan. 6. And remember the Pennsylvania congressmen who are guilty in making it happen. They want you to forget. Don’t let them get away with it.

Suzanne Colvin, Mercer

U.S. always botches pandemics, Americans must demand better

American individual and family health have been neglected by both political parties. A groundswell of American voters must speak for serious changes. Donald Trump resisted dealing seriously with COVID-19 for a year. About a quarter million COVID-19 deaths forced him to fund the "Operation Warp Speed” to produce the first vaccines. But for 30 prior years, both parties left the American people unprepared for any pandemic!

COVID-19 is far from the most lethal virus known. Marburg and Ebola killed anywhere from 22% to 88% of those infected. But COVID-19 has now caused about 53 million American infections, including taking over 838,000 lives. When did a war among humans ever take near so many casualties? See the New York Times article "Beneath a Government Debacle: 30 years of Government Culpability."

Our federal governments have a helpful, “pro development” attitude toward private profit-making. It's always corporate-friendly, even when corporations' activities are increasingly hurting our personal general welfare! The pandemic is one example.

“But the COVID-19 pandemic was an act of God.” No! There was a news media-documented record of struggles by public health officials to contain outbreaks of hot zone super-contagious and severely lethal viruses. It started with Marburg virus in 1967, Ebola and bird flu in 1997. Republicans and Democrats have slumbered their way to election on cushions of corporate money, to propagandize us for reelection.

Big pharma firms were allowed to decline the pandemic prep work: vaccines, boosters, PPE. Public health officials struggled, often themselves endangered in foreign lands, to stop outbreaks. This is why we were so unprepared, lacking vaccines, ventilators, etc.

Never again! We must demand a reorientation of priorities for policies and expenditures toward individuals general welfare. Our politicians are liars or excuse-makers. Peer-reviewed science is relatively self-correcting.

Robert Cogan, Edinboro

It is time we take a stand against equity

Equality. Equity. They look similar. They sound similar. That is where it ends for there a world of difference between the two words.

Equality is what most people strive for in their lives. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," known as the golden rule, is the epitome of equality. To be treated fairly with decency is all anyone can ask for. This means everyone gets a fair chance at the American Dream, with the best and brightest people reaping the rewards of their labor.

Equity is quite a different story. I believe it is a buzzword for reparations, and what it means is simply this: We are going to take whatever you've accumulated throughout your working life and give it to others who for whatever reason, whether it is lack of education, laziness, or yes, discrimination, have not earned as much as you may have. It is an unjust redistribution of wealth based on the fact that everyone is complicit in racial, sexual, ethnic, or any other form of discrimination, and you will pay.

The people who push for "equity" do not care about what is fair or just in my opinion. They do not take into account you may have just arrived in this country two generations ago and therefore had nothing to do with slavery, the creation of inner-city tenements or any of the other myriad of reasons progressive Democrats use to advance this portion of their agenda. I think they simply want to punish those whom they blame for their failed social experiments. What better way to do it than by taking away hard-earned assets.

Do not be fooled by the semantics. See it for what it is and tell your elected representatives you don't agree with this quasi-communist theory.

Randall McFarley, Erie

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Letters: Equity is akin to communism, pandemics, Mike Kelly, Scott Perry