Mass Hysteria, Fueled By Mass Ignorance

Really, people? Hoarding toilet paper? I was at my local Sam’s club this morning, there was a waiting line to get in-limiting the number of people in the store. Ok, that I can understand-distance is a way to contain the spread of viruses. Toilet paper in 36 roll packages was limited to 2 per person.  I saw families lined up, mom, dad, 5 kids; each person had a basket to put their 2 packages of toilet paper in. How much toilet paper do they normally buy in a shopping trip?

No diapers or feminine protection products available. No baby 

formula, no milk. No coffee, no bottled water; plenty of soda pop and snack crackers.

Where I work, a store that sells sporting goods, hardware, clothes, 

toys-we are out of 55-gallon water barrels, toilet paper-including RV toilet paper, any type of face mask, Kleenex, gas cans, any form of sanitizing cleaner, even bleach.

It’s a virus that affects the respiratory system, not your intestinal 

tract. It’s an air-borne virus, not a water-spread virus. It can’t live in our treated tap water.

It does spread though social contact, I understand that. I applaud 

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for cancelling the General Conference and suspending all local worship services for the time being. They probably did the best thing possible to avert the spread of the virus!

Our State government has closed all K-12 schools for two weeks, 

again a very positive move in my opinion. Classes have been moved to on-line wherever possible. There will be sack breakfasts and lunches available for children who need them. Again, a good response.  

Gun and ammunition sales at our store are up, way up over a year 

ago. Some types of ammunition are out of stock. I spoke to one of my regular customers, he told me he was stocking up on ammo because of the riots. I changed the subject.  

Hysteria runs rampant in our population. In many ways, it is 

probably worse than the virus.

Why? One can only surmise. Our government has been kind of 

slow on the response; in my opinion, they should have let the CDC handle the information, get the facts out rather than the speculation. 

At this time, during this crisis, we need a leader who will calm the 

people, who will work to make sure the proper tests and treatments are available to all who need them. We need a leader that will help people understand what they need to do, and what they don’t need to do. We need a leader who will unite us and bring Americas great resources to bear on the problem at hand. We need a leader that doesn’t cut funding to the CDC and other health organizations, a leader who supports community hospitals, doctors and nurses. We need a President of the People, for the People, and by the People.

We need a Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy. Our reality 

TV star is not getting the job done.

Thanks for reading. Of course, these are only my opinions. I’d like

to hear yours, agree or disagree with me.

R.M. “Bob” Hartman

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Government Programs

I wrote this while on a camping trip last year. With apologies for the delay in posting it, here are some thoughts relevant to the current debate on "government programs."

I woke this morning to no site or sound of man, no jet planes, no cell phones, no semis jake braking, and no power plants. Strangely, this made me think of Ron Paul, and others of his ilk, and the current movement to “cut” government spending. I thought, as I sat out last night and looked at the stars and satellites, how much the world has changed in my lifetime. In 1953, there were no satellites, phones had to be cranked to connect you to the operator, and the stores closed at 6 PM. Nothing was open on Sunday. Dinner was always cooked, as there were no “convenience” foods, and microwaves were figments of some mad scientist’s imagination.

In the midst of this current recession/depression, many are calling for the total elimination of government projects. I’d like to focus today on one or two, and although my focus is limited, perhaps you can think with me and explore in your mind other similar programs.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Program (REA) to bring power to the farmers and “rural” people of the United States. In doing this, not only did he create meaningful, paying jobs, he brought the nation together. By bringing electric power to the masses, they could then participate in the national conversation by listening to the radio; news began to travel faster, and the population as a whole benefited. Large groups of people were united into co-operatives to plan and build the electric system that, even today, provides a major part of the power grid into people’s homes, enabling them to use the myriad devices we all now take for granted. Without cell phones and video cameras, a lot of our “political thinkers” would be nothing but dried ink.


John Fitzgerald Kennedy wanted the United States of America to put a man on the moon in 1 decade, a short ten years. Think about it! No method of communication over this vast a distance had yet been created; we had no idea of spacesuits, or how to deal with human waste products in a space environment. How would the space pilots cook their food? If rock is destroyed coming into our atmosphere, how can we protect metal from destruction?

Microwaves, Corelle, disposable diapers, Tang, and Velcro all sprang from the space programs. Many more, but my memory is short, came from all of this. So-why the rush to destroy this, and other, avenues of creative thinking? Yes, businesses took over after the patents were issued, and some people (a small few) became very rich, but-the nucleus, the core of the idea, (microwaves for example) was how do we cook in space? How can we make money off this idea?

When politicians play to the press, and say they are against government spending in research and development, they are playing with a damaged fiddle. How many jobs are they willing to destroy in the “public interest” of cutting programs?

How long will YOU continue to enable these people to control your income?

Think about it... and post your comments. I love a good discussion!