To the editor:

The coronavirus is taking its toll already not only medically but financially as well. Restaurants, bars gyms and many businesses are forcibly closed so as to limit the contagion of the virus. That appears to be the illegal order advanced by some of our political leaders. Hopefully it may limit the contagion of the virus but the constitution in my commonwealth does not give the governor the right to impose such an order. Has it come to pass that a politician can now ignore constitutional limits if he deems it unsuitable?

When our government starts to hand out money due to a distress there needs to be constraints and guided by legal authority.

A thousand dollars to every citizen, including children, I suggest is a bit overboard. I don’t remember farmers ever getting a handout when their crops failed or the milk producers getting a bailout when the price of milk dropped putting many of those providers out of business. Or how about the store owner having to close his business due to issues that had nothing to do with a virus but his own failure? So why now is the government so eager to borrow money to pass on to many who are not bearing a hint of the burden imposed by the virus?

I am OK with giving aid to those who went to work only to find the doors closed. I am OK with the small business owner who is without the means to earn income being given a helping hand. I am OK with helping those who are financially distressed due to the virus. I am not OK with every citizen being able to grab a thousand dollars out of the pot; money that will burden every taxpayer who will be required to open their wallet and eventually pay the debt.

And how can the thousand dollars to a person still employed and getting a salary be justified? What about those whose retirement pensions and investment incomes are not negatively affected? Are they deserving of money taken from the taxpayer? I say not!

Not everyone has been or will be harmed due to this or any virus. Yes, this virus is dangerous but then so is the flu. I don’t ever remember getting a government handout when I was recovering from that virus needing to pay someone to run my business during my absence.

There appears to be a leaning curve toward a socialist protocol in play here.

Diane L. Logan

Mifflintown