In spite of everything that has happened to date, politicians still have the ability to amaze me.
Explain something to me, if anyone can.

There’s a lieutenant governor in Texas who says senior citizens — anyone over 60, I suppose — should be willing to sacrifice their lives so someone younger could use their ventilator. This is because of the shortage of ventilators. He’s willing to sign up.

Well, he can go it alone. If I am sick enough to go into intensive care at the hospital, I am definitely unwilling to give up my ventilator. And if anyone should try to remove it, I assure you I’d fight to retain it to the best of my weakened ability.

You see, if you believe in the sanctity of life, you can’t be cherry-picking which life has value.

All life has value.

If we should use age as the criteria for sacrificing lives, maybe we should use other guidelines. We could assign value only to those who are mathematicians. Or we could pick only musicians, or scientists.

It would be impractical to only save the children, because they do need adults to take care of them. What about taking ventilators away from violent criminals. How about serial killers?
Who should we let die?
Well, you be the judge. I don’t want anyone to die because they don’t have access to ventilators or protective materials.

It’s hard to believe that no one in this country has the ability or authority to make available the materials needed to save lives. But that appears to be the case.

We’ve seen images of patients lying on the floor in hospital corridors, of doctors and nurses garbed in trash bags to try to protect themselves and their patients. People at home are making masks.

There is no excuse on earth that explains why this is the case.

And it is useless to point fingers. Now is the time to act. So, to whoever is in charge — and that’s the great mystery — decide who that is and do something.

I wish Gen. Russel L. Honoré, who came to the rescue during Hurricane Katrina, wasn’t retired. He’d be able to organize the country’s response to this crisis and bring order out of chaos. But he is retired, and FDR is dead.

Let’s put people in charge who are competent and qualified in dealing with this pandemic. Bring health care professionals to the forefront and save some lives.

The financial crisis is a byproduct of the pandemic. It doesn’t matter how well the stock market does if everybody dies. Come on, leaders. Get it in gear.