It’s time to take off the masks, and those of us who do shouldn’t be chastised

Wearing masks

A Feb. 23 Forum letter compared not wearing a mask to drunk drivers and unsanitary food service workers. There are vaccines available to anyone who wants one. It’s time to get on with normal life, and that includes being able to freely breathe. Masks are indeed going away. Those who agree with the writer are still welcome to keep their masks on, just leave the rest of us alone.

Cory Spiers, Charlotte

States’ rights?

Many “states’ rights” claims are made by Republican politicians seeking to banish what they find offensive. But where is the discussion about “states’ responsibilities” — the responsibility for each of the 50 United States to work together to form a more perfect union? The responsibility to respect the Constitutional rights of all Americans? The responsibility to cooperate in our collective national defense, including working together on environmental, justice and economic issues?

Many Republicans talk about personal responsibility as an enforced cure-all for our nation’s ills. Isn’t it time to demand a collective responsibility from all our states?

Michael A. Clark, Charlotte

Ukraine

We’re witnessing in Ukraine what happens when one person has too much power. Autocratic leaders like Putin choose to impose their will on others without regard to the outcome, loss of life, or the chaos created.

Democracy may be messy with loud disagreements, but it allows citizens to choose their leaders and hold them accountable. Until Donald Trump, candidates for office in America who lost didn’t try to remain in power. For the country’s sake, they accepted defeat and moved on.

Foolishly, we’re fighting over masks and vaccines, banning books, and thinking we can isolate from the rest of the world. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a reminder of what we have to lose if we don’t come together and work to keep our democracy alive.

Dianne Mason, Matthews

Biden’s blunder

The Biden-Harris energy policy is giving me a headache. If they truly wanted to hurt Russia’s economy the White House would ramp up U.S. oil production. This would lower the price of a barrel of oil, hurting Russia’s major income source, and provide relief to all Americans at the gas pump and in heating their homes. It also will lower costs to businesses including transportation of goods costs, and energy used in manufacturing.

We cannot solve climate change issues alone or overnight by killing the U.S. economy while together China, India and Russia spew almost 40% of the world’s pollution. President Biden has tied one hand behind his back in his fight with Putin.

Borden MacMillan, Cornelius

GOP and Putin

Regarding “Trump splinters Republicans with praise of Putin,” (Feb. 23) and related articles:

So now some Republicans are defending our longtime enemy Russia and attacking our president as he attempts to deal with that enemy. Didn’t know that they could sink any lower.

Araminta S. Johnston, Charlotte

Black history

Regarding “Yep, that’s right, let’s get rid of Black History Month,” (Feb. 22 Opinion):

Barry Saunders wrote one of the best op-eds I have seen in a long time about Black history. He was point on. Black history, along with Civil War history, is needed in our schools. I’ve been out of school for over 50 years, but the two histories shed light on why, how, where some of our problems all started. God didn’t create just a white man, he created all of us.

Gerald C. Gibson, Lincolnton

Charlotte’s past

As an almost 77-year-old Charlotte native, I want to say thank you for the cover story, “Bulldozing the past,” (Feb. 20).

Too many of the buildings from my childhood (1950s) no longer exist. We have too much glass and metal and not enough history in Charlotte. The latest example is bulldozing Harry & Bryant Funeral Home on Providence Road. The building could have been saved and retrofitted as a bank or for some other purpose.

A good book that addresses this issue is “100 Lost Architectural Treasures of Old Charlotte” by David W. Erdman.

Also, a big thank you to local historian Dan Morrill for what he has done to preserve the history of Charlotte.

James B. Thurman, Charlotte

Healthcare

Regarding “Liberal agenda undermines employer-based health care,” (Feb 20 Opinion):

Op-ed writer Nina Owcharenko Schaefer’s claim that employer-based health care is a “good” to be preserved is simply false. This system is merely an accidental holdover from World War II. It forces employers into a business not their own and creates major inequities in insurance coverage for employees.

Small businesses are especially disadvantaged when trying to negotiate with huge insurance and hospital systems. So many employees lose.

The best medical systems we have in the U.S. are Medicare and the VA/TriCare system. Both are hybrid public-private systems where the government sets fairer medical insurance rules and standards and uses its power to negotiate for the citizens.

Michael Zimmermann, Charlotte

This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 2:07 PM.