I
have forgotten who originated the expression be careful what you wish
for—you just might get it. But its relevance to 2020 America is
unmistakable.
This
spring, we witnessed the outrage of those who (like their president),
felt the Corona virus was a wildly-exaggerated hoax perpetuated
by liberals and their media. They reacted in kind, crying “We don't
need no stinking masks!”
They
even accused the medical professionals trying to keep us safe and
the pols who listened to them of tyranny.
So
they opened their bars and their restaurants and their beaches in
defiance of the fearful liberals who cautioned against this based on
the advice of accredited experts like the Center for Disease Control.
All
these months later, those oppressed Republican enclaves like Arizona,
Florida and Texas are being subsumed by exploding COVID-19 infection
rates.
But
at least they didn't listen to liberals, right? That counts for
something, right?
In
the middle-school lunchroom that is the setting for so much of our
political (for lack of a better word) debate, denial has become the
flavor du jour of Republicans. Deny science. Deny facts. Deny, deny,
deny. If it didn't spring from the mouth of Sir Lies-A-Lot, it is a
baldfaced, well, lie.
And
since Donald denied the seriousness of the pandemic and has refused
to accept any responsibility whatsoever for it, COVID-19 has been
handed an extended-stay visa with only the most feeble and occasional
federal oversight.
Anybody
have one of those giant foam fingers proclaiming we're number-one?
Despite
their obnoxious posturing and my outraged reaction to it, I take no
pleasure in the grim stories unfolding in Florida and Arizona and
Texas.
Rather,
I am deeply troubled, wondering how we could be so blinded and
corrupted by our political biases not to see a common threat for what
it was.
It
has placed everything all of us know and love in grave danger.
