If I had to give voice to the whispering suspicion in the back of my head it is this one — the country is probably irreversibly broken. I hope not, but I think it is distinctly notable that as a global pandemic ravages the planet and people are dying the partisan divisions and presuppositions of partisans remain constant, if not more strident.
We've always been broken. Only now, we have 24/7 news and 24/7 social media that let's us see the broken world we live in. On the good side, in smaller communities, we have pulled together and helped each other out.
And, by the way, it IS political when the government forces businesses to close and forces healthy people to stay home. It is called civil liberties and our constitutional rights...
I tried discussing this with my sister and she shut me down, saying that COVID-19 was a terrible situation and that she couldn't imagine ANYBODY using this to advance an agenda. "People are DYING, Tucker!" That conversation left me bewildered because it seemed to blatantly obvious to me that people on both sides of the aisle were indeed using it. Your column, while validating my belief, also validated my concerns about the future of our country. Are we SO divided now that we cannot unite even long enough to defeat this virus, to just present the facts without bias, and to agree that the enemy is not each other?? We saw unity after 9/11, but apparently that's "so twenty years ago" now.
Our country has been broken for some time. Trump didn't break it. Neither did Corona Virus. The move to centralize control at the federal/state levels so that everybody can be forced to obey one size fits all laws is one reason our country is broke. Freedom matters and without that motive our country would never have broken away from Britain. That motive still exists today.
Truth also matters. The Corona task force has repeatedly pointed out that the Corona curves for NY and NY look nothing like the Corona curves for most of the country. But even though there is no legitimate reason that everybody to follow the same rules to stop the spread of Corona, it seems that those who hate Trump are unable to admit that undeniable truth because it is more important to them to defeat Trump than to avoid a worldwide economic collapse.
Similarly, herd immunity requires about 60% (or more) of a population to be infected before it will have much of an effect on slowing the spread. Recent antibody studies in CA hot spots (Santa Clara and LA) show that only about 4% of a early hot-spot population may have Corona antibodies, which is about 15x away from 60%. Even if one assumes these worst case estimates are valid across a country with many low-risk areas, that means the US death total for herd immunity would be about 15 times the current 40K or 600K. But if the economy and unrestricted personal freedom are all that matters in one's worldview, why not ignore the truth that trying to avoid 600K Corona deaths is not the same as accepting 20K-70K unavoidable flu deaths.
Death has been partisan for awhile now, they're just jumping on the latest opportunity. I wonder now if the party that's so concerned about life and the preservation of it is going to protect the life of the public and keep things closed down, starting with the abortion clinics?
We've always been broken. Only now, we have 24/7 news and 24/7 social media that let's us see the broken world we live in. On the good side, in smaller communities, we have pulled together and helped each other out.
And, by the way, it IS political when the government forces businesses to close and forces healthy people to stay home. It is called civil liberties and our constitutional rights...
I tried discussing this with my sister and she shut me down, saying that COVID-19 was a terrible situation and that she couldn't imagine ANYBODY using this to advance an agenda. "People are DYING, Tucker!" That conversation left me bewildered because it seemed to blatantly obvious to me that people on both sides of the aisle were indeed using it. Your column, while validating my belief, also validated my concerns about the future of our country. Are we SO divided now that we cannot unite even long enough to defeat this virus, to just present the facts without bias, and to agree that the enemy is not each other?? We saw unity after 9/11, but apparently that's "so twenty years ago" now.
The answer to your question is YES.
A resounding YES.
Our country has been broken for some time. Trump didn't break it. Neither did Corona Virus. The move to centralize control at the federal/state levels so that everybody can be forced to obey one size fits all laws is one reason our country is broke. Freedom matters and without that motive our country would never have broken away from Britain. That motive still exists today.
Truth also matters. The Corona task force has repeatedly pointed out that the Corona curves for NY and NY look nothing like the Corona curves for most of the country. But even though there is no legitimate reason that everybody to follow the same rules to stop the spread of Corona, it seems that those who hate Trump are unable to admit that undeniable truth because it is more important to them to defeat Trump than to avoid a worldwide economic collapse.
Similarly, herd immunity requires about 60% (or more) of a population to be infected before it will have much of an effect on slowing the spread. Recent antibody studies in CA hot spots (Santa Clara and LA) show that only about 4% of a early hot-spot population may have Corona antibodies, which is about 15x away from 60%. Even if one assumes these worst case estimates are valid across a country with many low-risk areas, that means the US death total for herd immunity would be about 15 times the current 40K or 600K. But if the economy and unrestricted personal freedom are all that matters in one's worldview, why not ignore the truth that trying to avoid 600K Corona deaths is not the same as accepting 20K-70K unavoidable flu deaths.
Death has been partisan for awhile now, they're just jumping on the latest opportunity. I wonder now if the party that's so concerned about life and the preservation of it is going to protect the life of the public and keep things closed down, starting with the abortion clinics?
A breath of fresh air to hear a voice of reason
Well Said!