To the Editor:

In 2017, the legislature passed Senate Bill 89. In part, it mandated a fine for failing to wear a seat belt while driving a car. Rep. Johnson and Sen. Wilborn voted for that bill, a bill that violated their constituents’ freedom to drive unbuckled, uninhibited, unencumbered; the legislators mandated responsible behavior. They understood their obligation to lead, to inform, and to act to save lives and to protect the health and well-being of others.

In 2017, 461 Kansans died in car accidents. This year there have been over 400 deaths linked to car crashes. Certainly more would have died without the seat belt mandate and other legislative mandates restricting individual freedom.

With the above in mind, note that as of the end of October 2020, 1,029 Kansans have died because of the coronavirus with more Kansans suffering long-term effects, and we have two months left in the year. While a public mask-wearing mandate could reduce the loss of life due to COVID-19, Kansas government leaders, particularly state legislators and local officials, take no action to mandate the wearing of masks in public, because they fear to intrude on the freedom of some to infect others with a deadly, disabling virus.

Some might say that my indictment of elected leaders is unfair and that they cannot legislate morality or responsible behavior, although thousands of statutes and ordinances do just that. If some are right, let us do away with all laws, mandates, ordinances, and penalties that might intrude on the rights of some to behave in a manner that endangers the lives and well-being of others. Let us return to a Hobbesian state of nature and live lives that are solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Let us return to a Darwinian life of survival of the fittest and the selfish.

Postscript: Some say that they have no fear of death and that we all die sometime. I say a little fear is healthy. While fearlessly confronting death, keep in mind that death from COVID-19 does not come quickly and easily. It comes at a slow, suffocating, torturing pace over a period of days, weeks, even months, while risking the lives of caretakers. Not a pleasant passing. Ask yourself, as fearless as you are, do you wish such a passing for a family member or a friend? You do if you oppose a mandate to wear masks in public.

Jerry Marsh

Ellsworth