by Robert M. Traxler

It is time for leadership on the public health front; it is always better to lead people than to dictate to or order folks.

An old saying in our military is, “I would follow them to the gates of hell.” Most veterans have served with a leader who made you want to suck it up, go the extra mile — death itself would be preferable to letting your fellow warriors down or to disappoint a true leader. Our health officials and our governor have replaced leadership with authoritarian dictatorship.

During the Civil War, General Robert E. Lee, at a critical point of the battle of Antietam, when total defeat was imminent, stood in his stirrups atop his horse Traveler while addressing a division of Texans. He declared, “Texans always move them.” One young lieutenant with tears in his eyes declared, “I would charge hell itself for that old man.”

The South did not win the battle; but for that charge, they may have lost the war then and there, but they were able to withdraw in good order. The division was starved, they had not eaten in days, exhausted and foot sore from an all-night march of nearly 30 miles, but four words from a respected leader caused them to charge furiously and stop the Union advance.

Let me break with some of my conservative friends and say that masks work. If you exhale, sneeze, cough or speak, you exhale moisture; just step outside and breathe and you will see frost, frozen droplets of water coming from your lungs. If you have a respiratory disease, the virus is in those droplets; if someone breaths in those droplets, droplets stopped to some extent by a cloth mask, they will get the virus in their lungs and sinuses.

The problem is that we were told initially masks do not work and are more dangerous than not masking up. Even using a mask is unpatriotic; who said it? Some blogger, some movie star, some sports figure? No, it was the sainted Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the Surgeon General of the United States, among hundreds of others.

Common sense be damned, history be damned; believe the science or you are a dreaded science denier. This truly dumb practice caused the deaths of thousands, yet we blindly follow Saint Dr. Fauci. To this day, he is a hero of the left and is the star of the media, go figure. And yes, you can’t make this stuff up.

It is gutless and easy to order to demand compliance, but it is difficult to inspire to lead. Americans are a contrary bunch, we are stubborn and headstrong; however, we will go to hell and back if properly led and motivated, we will suffer for the common good if we believe in our mission. Issuing an order is easy, motivating people to do the right thing for the right reasons is difficult. In a Constitutional Republic the government rules only with the will of the people; the people have the final say, and it is always best to lead and motivate us, not to herd us.

“The vaccines are 100% safe and effective.” We were told this by two administrations, Republican and Democrat; folks, no vaccine is 100% safe and effective in 100% of the people. The flu vaccine I took a month ago is at best 50% effective; we were told that out of the box.

Dr. Forstner, my oncologist, told me up front there is a 30% failure rate in treatment for cancers like mine; it worked in my case, but in both cases, I was told the truth, not a dumb made-up number to get me to take the vaccine and cancer treatment.

We have all seen the ads telling pregnant women the COVID-19 vaccines are 100% safe. They do not know that; there is no way to know that in 100% of women. It is not the dreaded pharmaceutical companies saying it, it is the government.

In the bowels of the Pentagon is the Office of Lessons Learned; the goal of this office is to learn from history, to avoid making the same mistakes in future operations. The CDC and Surgeon General’s office should have a similar office, so they handle the next pandemic differently; to lead, to motivate to tell the truth from the start, not the “politically correct truth.”

My opinion.