Letter to the editor, Colorado Sentinel, February 21, 2022

The masks have come off…in more ways than one.

As midterms approach, Democrats have adopted the Republican “do nothing” strategy on a pandemic that has killed ~1 million Americans—over 12,000 in Colorado, almost three times Australia’s toll—while impacting the long-term health of countless more.

President Biden ousted Trump because of the latter’s lack of a national response to the virus. Tragically, aside from the vaccine, Biden—along with nearly every Democrat at the federal, state, and local level—has also refused to slow the spread.

Colorado’s Governor Jared Polis was an early adopter of the “do nothing” strategy, prematurely axing the mask mandate, abandoning the “COVID Dial,” passing the buck of public health onto a patchwork of counties and municipalities with next to no enforcement.

Now, incumbent Democrats are pretending the pandemic is over, hoping it’s the best way to get re-elected. My fellow progressives: Is it?

Do you think politicians turning a blind eye to a million dead are going to prevent more killings by police? Help the poverty-stricken living on the street? Open new paths to citizenship? Protect LGBTQ rights? If they won’t save human lives, why would they care about climate, wildlife, our Colorado landscapes?

No, these faux Democrats placed their bets and are waiting to see if we’ll call their bluff. If we pat them on the back for virtue signaling as the world burns, they’ll have their game plan for the foreseeable future—and we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.