Op/Ed
Letter to the editor: COVID-19 has created a critical, not hopeless, situation
Nature has let loose an irresistible toxic agent against our species in the form of a virus, COVID-19. It is encircling the world, and many will be harmed or die because of it. However, our situation is not hopeless, although it is critical. We possess resources, scientific and industrial, by which we can stem the tide and, perhaps, even reverse the course of this deadly agent, but we must use them wisely, in good measure, and with all deliberate speed.
It is also becoming evident that the threat of COVID-19 will not go away anytime soon or ever. We face a long-term, recurring crisis. To meet it requires the coordination of government agencies, and careful, prudent judgment by political officials, especially at the top. Yet it becomes clearer every day that this is just what we lack. The president of the United States has proved himself to be totally lacking in emotional, moral and intellectual qualities to address this crisis. His depraved ego seeks ever to inflate itself at the public expense. It is like having a slightly precocious spoiled four-year-old lead the country, the greatest nation in the world. What are we to do?
The answer is obvious: Remove him from office. There are several ways to achieve this. Impeachment failed, and so we must wait until November 2020.
The Constitution provides another sooner option. Sections 3 and 4 of the 25th amendment allows that a President may be removed from office when he is impaired or disabled from carrying out the duties of his office. But this is unlikely to happen, for it would require that the vice president and all cabinet secretaries to initiate the process, and a two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress to enact it. Besides, it is generally supposed that gross moral incompetence is not the sort of disability intended by the 25th amendment. I’m sure that at least one of the founders, John Adams, believed that it is. But this is a question for another day.
This makes it all the more imperative that Donald Trump be defeated in the upcoming presidential election, assuming, of course, that the Republican Party nominate him again, which seems inevitable, since Trump owns the Republican Party.
To achieve this end, it is imperative that the Democratic Party end the presidential primary contest now and unite behind the current frontrunner, Joe Biden, and together work hard to secure a victory in November. They should make the main plank in their platform to cleanse government of the United States and to restore its integrity. What this nation now needs is not a Revolution, but a Restoration.
Victor Nuovo
Middlebury
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