This time Biden hit the nail on the head–”Neanderthal.” There could not be a better word for it. The entire world is tired of coronavirus. Everyone wants life to return to normal. And it almost makes a little bit of sense that so many livelihoods have disappeared and there are incredible negative impacts on everyone’s mental health. But to walk away from the simple act of wearing a mask shows a deep lack of critical thinking. Wearing a mask is so simple.
There is something deeper at work here, and more sinister. After everything that has happened, all the people who have died, all the devastation of communities across the nation, there are still people in authority, high authority, who refuse to accept the scientific realities of Covid-19. One of the greatest threats to America is a group of people who cannot accept medical fact. And, if anything, this group is growing.
There is a lot more at stake than just Codvid-19. This crisis is one of many crises that America faces–everything from childhood obesity to gun violence to opioid addiction. All of which require a commitment to science. A belief in science, a willingness to accept science, is critical to American identity. The lifting of this mask mandate is one instance of a broader assault on the value of science, its role in government, and its role in society at large. Facts matter. All societies need to integrate science into political decision-making.
The decisions of governor Abbot, and the popularity that he retains, say something about the importance of people stepping up and working to remove these politicians from office. The only permanent solution is to get people like this out of power. Without that, over the long term, these crises will become increasingly insurmountable. As long as people like governor Abbot remain in positions of such power, America has no future.
There has been progress, good progress. There are many people within Texas and other states sounding the alarm, many of them from minority communities disproportionately affected by Covid-19. The Biden administration is doing the right thing, bringing good people into the administration and listening to them. However, meanwhile, there are challenges that are going nowhere. The chosen ignorance of a few, unwilling to do the most basic of things, makes the rest of us even less safe than we already were. I can only imagine just how angry good people in Texas must really be.
Progressive Without Apology 