Gov. Holcomb,
Hoosiers need your help. They need your leadership against fear, and against coercion. School boards across Indiana have shunned the parents in their districts, and have instituted masks mandates for students. Gov. Holcomb, you need to end these mandates, and loudly speak out against them.
You and I disagreed over mask mandates last year. In your view, this was a “once in a generation” virus. But now, we know that Covid is no longer that. Covid will no longer be once in a generation, but an every year occurrence. Covid, coronavirus, is here to stay. It will remain for the rest of your term. It will remain for the rest of your life, and mine. It will remain in the lives of Hoosier children for as long as they live.
Children survive Covid. An unvaccinated child is less likely to get Covid than a vaccinated adult over 30. Masks have been shown to carry numerous amounts of bacteria and viruses, but they have not been shown to reduce the rates of Covid. Allow me to spell this out more directly: Masks, worn by the civilian population (those not in hospital settings) do not stop the spread of Covid. The virus is too small, the mask is not of the proper fabric and is more often than not improperly worn.
No parent in Indiana wants their child to be sick. But if children do get Covid, the odds of them dying are remarkably small. Not just less than a percent, but around a thousandth of a percent, according to data out of the UK. Children, the facts show us, survive Covid.
What we don’t have data for is the damage done to Hoosier kids by constant mask wearing. Damage to our children’s mental health. Damage to their development in reading and pronunciation, along with the isolation of not being able to pick up on social cues from their classmates and others.
School boards across Indiana believe it is their job to protect children. They are wrong. Parents protect children. Parents ensure their social and emotional development. Parents make the decisions on the health of their children. Always.
By allowing school boards to make these sweeping decisions and declarations, not only are we adversely and negatively impacting the lives of our kids by forcing masks on them for hours a day (again!,) we are making a larger statement. We are saying that parents don’t know best. We are saying that parents can’t be trusted. By implementing these mandates, school boards are separating parents and children, and stripping away the rightful, necessary duty of those parents. Mandates replace the parent with the State.
Gov. Holcomb, this is not something you believe in. The parent makes the decision, not the State. The parent makes the choice, not the State. You do not believe that the State comes first, so say so!
Without mandates, parents can still decide to mask their children. Without mandates, parents can still decide to vaccinate their children or themselves. I do not oppose vaccines. It is mandates we should all oppose; mandates undermine not only the Constitution, but the accepted values that have been at the heart of American life and civilization. To allow the State to make these decisions is to create a new society built on a social framework that eventually eradicates the parent outright, excepting for creating babies that are then offered to the State because, “They Know Best.”
You don’t believe in this, Gov. Holcomb. So say so! Speak out against this abuse. Speak out against school boards that engage mask mandates that offer no science behind them. Speak out against fear that school boards suffer from, and then push on Hoosier children.
Speak for parents who must always be first in making the decision for their family, even if you personally disagree with it. And disagree if you choose! Use your bully pulpit to convince, to request, to plead for things you think keep children safe. The Hoosier parent can then decide to agree or disagree with you. That is rational, and decent. That is an exchange of ideas and thoughts. That is Indiana.
School boards have decided they know best for our children. They do not, and they will find out how unpopular they are during their next election cycle. Gov. Holcomb, you need to stand up for parents, for children and for an America that really is of, by and for the people.
Speak out against mask mandates. Put an end to them, if the law allows. Call the General Assembly back into session if it doesn’t. Hoosiers need you, now. Do not let them down.
