Letters to the Editor by Janell Alewyn

January 14, 2022

     There is a joke that is all too real: If you want to move forward, put it in D; if you want to move backwards, put it in R. Republicans are the party of yesterday; Democrats are the party of the future. Republicans peddle denial, deceit and destruction. They deny science, climate change, the pandemic, the outcome of the 2020 election. They are determined to destroy all progress made in women’s rights, minority rights, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, voting rights. And although Republicans have laid claim to words like “choice” and “freedom,” it is Democrats who actually practice and promote those values.

     Democrats fight for the freedom to have secure, good-paying jobs with pensions, to have access to clean air and water, food, health care, the ballot. One is not free if one has to work multiple jobs to feed a family. One is not free if pursuit of a college education incurs opportunity-crushing debt. One is not free if a medical emergency leads to bankruptcy. One is not free if one's vote is suppressed. We are indeed on the precipice of losing our democracy, of losing the freedoms some take for granted. Those who scream that they do not want government telling them what to do are in for a rude awakening if authoritarianism takes root. An authoritarian government will dictate and dominate every detail of your life, far beyond anything we see now. And once you realize what you have lost what you have carelessly squandered, it will be too late. For all of us.

October 18, 2021

      Regarding the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, Keith Greenberg writes Friday that he understands U.S. Rep. [sic] Sinema’s “reluctance to saddle our grandchildren and great grandchildren with debt they can’t pay.”

     Two things are wrong with this statement: First, Sinema is not concerned about saddling future generations with debt; she is concerned with what the bill will cost her wealthy donors in the finance and insurance industries.

     Second, the bill will not saddle future generations with debt. Quite the opposite. It will allow future generations the opportunity to get a college education without going into debt. It will allow parents enough money to afford child care. It will insure that people who face health crises don’t go bankrupt because of medical debt. It will enable workers to organize and demand better wages so that they don’t go into debt just meeting life’s basic necessities.

     The bill is paid for by raising taxes on the ultrawealthy and large corporations so that they finally pay their fair share of taxes to the benefit of all of society. The bill will not “saddle” the average American taxpayer — or their children and great grandchildren — with debt.

Janell Alewyn, Coolidge

(This letter was published in The Arizona Republic on October 18, 2021.)

JUNE 11, 2021 

     The success of Arizona's Native Americans in confronting COVID-19 has been well-documented. As sovereign peoples, the Navajo and San Carlos Apache were able to respond quickly and decisively, employing early testing, contact tracing, lockdowns and curfews, mask mandates, door-to-door education outreach by trusted community members and an aggressive, tiered vaccination program.

     Despite the fact that Native Americans are high-risk for COVID infections and deaths, they have succeeded in controlling the spread of the virus and limiting the number of fatalities. In May 2020, the Navajo had the highest per capita rate of infection in the country; today, they have one of the highest vaccination rates nationally and zero new cases of COVID. Even off the reservations, we see similar results among the Latino and Pascua Yaqui of Guadalupe. What is the common thread? Strong, responsive leadership and a sense of community and responsibility to others. They did not have leaders who denied and downplayed the crisis and their people did not whine that masks and vaccines violated their individual freedoms. They offer the rest of us an example of what can be done when leaders lead and when people have a strong sense of community in a shared struggle.

     Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez sums it up, saying, “Once again, the Navajo Nation is exemplifying what can be accomplished when we listen to the public health experts and work together.”

     This is what leadership looks like. This is what community looks like. This is what success looks like. We, the non-Native population, can learn a lot from their example.

     As COVID-19 surges and health care professionals from other countries rush to the U.S. to assist in this humanitarian crisis, doctors dread having to make the decision who to treat and who to let die, an agonizing moral dilemma for those committed to healing. Let me suggest one criterion to ease that burden: COVID-19 patients who have been to a public event in the past month without a face mask go to the end of the line. Those who ignored their responsibility to help reduce this pandemic threat should pay a price for their selfish negligence.

     Heartless? Maybe. But the fact that essential workers risk their lives every day while many Americans stubbornly refuse to make small but effective “sacrifices” to mitigate the crisis may justify such a harsh policy. Those who refuse to wear masks and social distance to avert this preventable escalation of infection and death have disproportionately contributed to super-spreader events; their access to limited medical resources should be proportionate to their roles in perpetuating and aggravating the crisis.

     My ballot arrived in the mail at noon on Friday. First, I went to https://my.arizona.vote to pull up my voter registration and check its accuracy: name, address, party, status (Active). Then I filled out my ballot and hand-delivered it to the Pinal County Recorder’s Office. My 2020 ballot was delivered within three hours of its receipt.

     I urge all voters to promptly complete their ballots and, if possible, drop them off in person at an official drop-off location. You will find those under “Find your polling locations” at https://my.arizona.vote. Scroll down to Drop Box Sites.

     After a week or two, return to the site to check the status of your ballot-by-mail and see if it was received and accepted. If there are any problems, you’ll need to address them immediately.

     If you are planning to mail your ballot, it is all the more critical that you do so immediately. Arizona begins to process ballots 14 days before Nov. 3, so getting ballots in early facilitates the counting of those millions of ballots before election day.

     For those seats where you can vote for two or more candidates, but only one candidate is of your party, it is best if you just vote for that one candidate. Your party’s lone candidate benefits from your single vote for her/him.

     If you are voting in person on election day, and if you see any attempts at voter intimidation, report it to the Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE and to the Arizona Voter Hotline at 833-VOTE4AZ.

     Katie Taylor of Scottsdale asserts in Tuesday's letters to the editor that "the primary purpose of government is not to keep you safe, but to protect your rights."     

     So if the purpose of government is not to keep us safe, we can dispense with all police departments, ambulance and EMT services, fire departments and all branches of the U.S. military as well as intelligence agencies?     

     Also we can eliminate local, state, and federal agencies whose very purpose is to promote public safety?     

     Wow.    

     That should save us a bundle of money while leaving millions of Americans vulnerable. But at least our "rights" are protected.
This letter was in the Arizona Republic on May 7, 2020.