A disturbing development in the eyes of conservatives like me is the intolerance of the woke generation.

They appear not only to hold our values in contempt but they want to silence us from expressing our own views.

Conservatives believe our founders had the right concept. The Constitution has been amended with changing conditions but our freedom of speech remains.

Doctors and other professionals have told of their fear of their reputations being ruined if they express views that the lords of social media would muzzle them for as a former US president has been.

An example of this is the covid-19 masks mandate. The science on the value of cotton masks is in question but the mask mandaters ignore this or don’t seem to care.

Making a 6-year-old child wear a mask in class for up to 6 or 7 hours is not good science. It is not even good health.

But the mandaters say we must do it.

That’s nonsense as well as non-science.

Fortunately our local school officials agree. If children or their parents want them to wear masks, that’s fine.

It is a personal choice. The parents are taking responsibility for what they think is in their child’s best interest. But the school officials are not going to make that decision for them. They will not require masks.

Personally, I think most public officials have done what the immunologists told them was the best science. But what aboutthose who lock us down now.

The delta variant is playing havoc with our hospitals but the science says it may be highly contagious but less life threatening.

Those on the left are so sensitive that they look for the least sign of a conservative point of view and call you down for it.

There is no middle ground.

You either agree with them or shut up.

For example a reader wrote us a letter to say he is not renewing his subscription due to our “slanted news articles.”

If he is unaware of what slanted news is, he should read the New York Times or Washington Post or tune in CNN, MSNBC and the 3 networks. They fawn over our president and disparage the last one.

Our reader wrote that he and his family had moved here from a rural area in another state and always read the local paper – until he started reading the Chronicle.

He accused us of playing to the crowd since we publish letters from conservatives.

He did not seem to realize that we publish letters from everyone, particularly those who disagree and criticize us.

We have thick hides and can take it.

We feel that readers who take the time to write us should be shown the courtesy of having their letters published.

I will admit that my own conservative views are expressed on this page weekly – and I will not be hushed up or censored by the woke generation on the left.

The old joke used to be that those who want freedom of the press should own one.

Not true any longer. All of us can express our opinions online – just don’t let Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google or other lords of social media see what you’re up to.

It won’t matter to our recent letter writer for me to say this but we strive to present all sides of every argument and publish both sides of all stories. We hold our conservative opinions for this page only.

Care to send me a comment? Please email JerryBellune@yahoo.com