MORE REPUBLICAN IDIOCY

THIS TITLE ISN’T just SimanaitisSays socialist ranting. The following tidbits come from the likes of Voice of America, Kaiser Family Foundation, Johns Hopkins University, Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman, and Anheuser-Busch.

The highly transmittable Delta mutation of Covid is much in the news, even being perceived as Covid-21. And Voice of America, July 3, 2021, reports, ”Unvaccinated Americans Whiter, More Republican Than Vaccinated.” 

Add to this other Republican trends of repressing Black and Hispanic voting, refusing a bipartisan investigation of the January 6 Capitol insurrection, and ganging up on its party members who have diverging views.

This is no longer a matter of rational ideology. By and large, the Republican party is stark-raving bonkers. 

VOA. Writing at the Voice of America website, July 3,  2021, Steve Baragona cites findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation: “Only 14% of Americans say they will definitely not get vaccinated. But this group is 69% white, compared with 7% Black and 12% Hispanic. Republicans make up 58% of this group, while Democrats account for 18%.”

The VOA’s Baragona notes, “KFF’s most recent random-digit dial telephone survey reached 1888 adults from June 8 to 21. The margin of error was 3 percent.”

Baragona writes, “More than half of those who said they would not get vaccinated said they did not need it.” 

I wonder what these people would say to the more than 600,000 Americans who perished from Covid-19. And to all who remain threatened by what could be Covid-21. 

Vaccine Too Risky?? As long ago as August 5, 2020, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said, “The COVID-19 vaccine is on track to become the fastest-developed vaccine in history. That doesn’t mean the process is skipping any critical steps.” 

Nay-sayers are akin to those who might have objected to World War II B-24 bombers assembled at Ford’s speedily constructed plant in Willow Run, Michigan.

WWII was a world conflict; and so is this.

 A Party of Incompetents. In The New York Times, July 1, 2021, Paul Krugman says, “I wrote a few days ago about how ignorance — ignorance about history, about science, about economics and more — has become a core conservative value.”

“But wait,” Krugman says, “ there’s more. On the right, expertise isn’t just considered worthless, it’s viewed as disqualifying. People with actual knowledge of a policy area — certainly those with any kind of professional reputation — are often excluded from any role in shaping policy. Preference is given to the incompetent — often the luridly incompetent.”

“I’ve written in the past,” Krugman says, “that ‘the modern G.O.P. doesn’t want to hear from serious economists, whatever their politics. It prefers charlatans and cranks, who are its kind of people.’ And it turns out that the same is true for epidemiologists.”

“So,” Krugman concludes, “how did we end up here? How did one of our two major political parties come not only to reject democracy, but to exalt ignorance and despise competence of any kind? I don’t know, but if you’re not terrified, you aren’t paying attention.”

By the way, Krugman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2008.

America’s Largest Brewer’s View. Back on June 2, 2021, Anheuser-Busch promised to buy a free beer for any drinking-age adult upon meeting President Biden’s goal of 70-percent/at least one-shot compliance by July 4.

Alas, according to The New York Times, July 3, 2021, we fell short at 67 percent. Close, but no cigar.

However, according to spectrumlocalnews.com, “Anheuser-Busch Still Giving Out Free July 4 Drinks Despite U.S. Falling Short of Vaccination Goal.”

I would be tempted to let any vaccine-denying people go thirsty, Republican or otherwise. ds  

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2021