When it comes to budgets, legislation, schools, politics and other aspects of daily life, people have various opinions, and that is their right. That's why we have two editorial pages in the Times Free Press - the Chattanooga Times and Chattanooga Free Press.
When it comes to the COVID-19 outbreak, we're all in this together. Regardless of age, gender, race, class, job or ideological stance, we all want this scourge to go away and for the regular life we led before masks, gloves and social distancing to return. So writing opinions in a time of coronavirus is a bit of a tightrope walk because while we're united in wanting people to take the precautions they should to prevent the spread of the disease, and we all desire to return to normalcy, we might have different thoughts on how to get there.
Are we shuttering too many businesses or not enough? Is the virus being politicized or is it not? Are governments providing the information they should or not? Is a stimulus mortgaging our grandchildren's future or is it the right thing to do?
As long as there are two people in the world, there will be two (or more) sides to every story. With facts, with figures, with commentary from others closer to the situation, we're trying to offer a thought or two for readers to chew on as they weather this storm.
- Clint Cooper, Free Press editor representing the conservative side of the newspaper's opinion section. Reach him at ccooper@timesfreepress.com