Mismanagement of the COVID-19 Outbreak Pushed Me to Take Action

We’ve all come together to protect democracy

While depressed about the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election (because I’d been hoping that a glass ceiling was going to be broken),  I was determined to give the new President a chance because he put cabinet members in place that I believed would prevent him from enacting directives that were too extreme. Unfortunately, the (mis) management of the COVID-19 crisis and his unwillingness to listen to the scientists who’d spent their career in public health caused me to conclude that he was only interested in his own image and not the welfare of the public he chose to lead.

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

 

Having been trained in a biological field and having conducted scientific research for about 20 years in both industry and academic settings before becoming a full time educator, I know first hand how slow progress can be in scientific research. I watched with amazement when COVID-19 tests and effective vaccines were rapidly developed and then used to ultimately contain the virus. I was amazed when my 93 year old father, who got COVID-19 last year and was extremely sick, take monoclonal antibodies to combat the COVID-19 infection and return to normal within 48 hours. If not for the scientists and the research they conducted, I doubt that I would still be enjoying my father’s company. Yet, throughout Trump’s time in office he deliberately undermined infectious disease experts and silenced public health officials to promote his political agenda, and that put the American people at risk. Many of these experts and their families needed security to protect them from the threats they received, all because they were trying to address an outbreak. i.e. An outbreak that Trump knowingly tried to downplay from the start.

It was because of COVID-19 outbreak and Trump’s mishandling of this public health issue, that I decided to get more politically involved. I did not want to experience another President that was more concerned about himself than finding effective solutions to problems encountered domestically and abroad. I started by helping Mark Kelly get elected in 2020 to finish John McCain’s term as senator, and then I helped him get reelected in 2022. My positive experience with that campaign, and the conversations I had with Arizonians, further reinforced the need to take action and further spread the word about the threats to our democracy, particularly in Arizona.

It is for this reason that I joined The Union. A year later, I’ve determined that what I like most about this organization is that we have volunteers who are registered Republicans, Independents, and Democrats, and we’ve all come together to protect democracy by responding to calls to actions and effectively communicating about MAGA threats to democracy whether it be restricting voting rights or limiting our personal freedoms.  Watching volunteers from all over the country work together for a common cause makes me hopeful that  together in collaboration with our partner organizations we can overcome this authoritarian threat and continue to protect  the freedoms that our founding fathers outlined in the constitution for our children and grandchildren.

If you are tired of the political chaos, come join us at The Union and help elect candidates who are willing to help preserve our democracy.

Post submitted by Carolyn Zeiher, a volunteer with The Union
Carolyn Zeiher is a former Biological Researcher and Educator, teaching students spanning from kindergarten to graduate school. She currently volunteers for The Union and serves as the Arizona Co-Lead and a member of the Intelligence team.

Note: The views and opinions expressed by volunteer contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Union, a single-issue organization that welcomes all and is dedicated to protecting democracy.

If you’d like to help defend democracy in the US, we invite you to join The Union.