Let me point out that the answer you responded to was NOT my complete response. I took a break in writing, without intentionally posting my response, but somehow it was posted anyway. So please read it again … I have now finished my response to you and hopefully you will find it to be a little more meaningful than what you read earlier.

But to quickly address the last point that you made. I have worked for the government, or contracted with the government, throughout most of ny career and yes, I certainly recognize that goverments can and do make mistakes—and some policies adopted by federal, state and local governments are utterly disastrous.

Do you have a right to question policies that you disagree with? Absolutely … I would go farther: you have not only a right, but an obligation to do so. After all, in a democracy we voters are very much a part of the government and we should certainly offer feedback when we see something that appears to be amiss.

But here is the catch: we do no one a favor by offering opinions that we are not qualified to form. Nor do we advance the political process by basing our opinions on the propaganda churned out by partisan political pundits. If we want to enter the debate, we have an obligation to educate ourselves—and if unable or unwilling to do that, then we best serve the public by holding our fire.

I believe in a couple of cardinal principles:

1. Education and experience = expertise, and expertise matters.

2. All else being equal, the majority of those who have expertise in a matter are more likely to be correct than the minority.

So if you want the most reliable information about a topic, and you have no expertise yourself, then turn to those who do have education and experience. In the case of vaccines and vaccinations, go directly to the websites of the CDC, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, Harvard (or Yale) School of Medicine, the Mayo Clinic, your state and local—city or county—health departments. They are all easily accessible via the internet and they all have free fact sheets or other statements concerning the COVID-19 vaccines.

If you go to the leading educational and research institutions in a particular field, and they have a consensus about how to proceed, then I am generally going to accept their recommendations. If expertise is good, more expertise is better, is it not? I don’t simply accept that what government officials are doing is right … but if government policy aligns with the recommendations of the leading institutions and recognized experts in that particular field, than I am going to support that policy.

It is beyond my comprehension that tens of millions of Americans would accept the medical advice of a president with zero training in medicine, while dismissing the warnings of the nation’s leading doctors and researchers.

So by all means, we should question policies when we don’t agree with them … but we should do ourselves a favor and become reasonably educated about the issues that concern us before we try to influence others. And when I say education I am not talking about listening to the talking heads on partisan “news” channels or talk radio. Go to the professional associations, the universities … in short, the places that actually have expertise to offer.