Dear Editor,

Thankfully, we here in the United States are now finally rounding the corner on getting this terrible coronavirus under control, loosening pandemic-related restrictions, and returning to more normal lives. The current administration’s skillful efforts to ramp up vaccine distribution and get people vaccinated have proven wonderfully successful in bringing us to this point at last despite the extraordinary range of variables and obstacles involved.

And now President Biden is supporting the lifting of vaccine patent protections (which the previous administration adamantly refused to do) and offering to provide additional assistance to the rest of the world, much of which lacks our resources and is still being ravaged by this virus, in order to help save lives and ultimately put an end to this pandemic as much and as quickly as possible.

These decisions reflect the compassion, ethics, and leadership which have always been at the heart of America, putting her most noble and dearly-held values into action.

This “shining city on the hill” (which had gone rather dark over the past few years) is now lighting up again at a time when the world desperately needs America to once again rise to this unimaginable crisis and lead the way out of it. It also reflects the wisdom to understand that we really are all in this together, as remaining pockets of infection throughout the world will continue to provide fertile ground for this resilient virus to persevere, spread, and mutate into variants which could potentially outsmart our vaccines.

Meanwhile, the now reality-challenged Republican party is descending deeper and deeper into conspiracy theories, openly intent on obstructing everything proposed by the Biden administration, exhibiting a cult-like devotion to the preceding president paired with a shared delusion that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, and enforcing what amounts to a requirement for all of it members to buy into and actively promote this delusion or be attacked and expelled from the party. In addition, they are doing all they can to regain and cling to power by any means, including nationwide voter suppression efforts and targeted attempts to implement legislative changes in critical Republican controlled states such that unwanted election results in the future can be overturned. They have become increasingly untethered from truth, and seem just fine with dismissing their oaths to serve our nation and instead working rather deviously to slowly dismantle our democracy and its electoral processes in order to serve themselves and their own insatiable appetite for power.

Hopefully the Republican party can right itself soon and become a positive force in our nation once again, as a healthy two-party system focused on working collaboratively for the sake of our nation and its people seems vital if America is to continue to progress, thrive, and remain that “shining city on the hill” leading the world forward.

Interesting times, indeed.

Dale E. Buonocore,

Warren