Tonight at 5PM Eastern Time--conveniently timed for a quick getaway to dinner, ice cream dessert, and early bed time--Zhou Baidan is slated to attempt to distract attention from the nation’s many problems by yammering for a while about Covid. Early word is that, in typical Dem fashion, he’ll attempt to divide and conquer--dividing the vaxxed from the leprous unvaxxed, by requiring all federal employees and contractors to participate in the ongoing gene therapy experiment under threat of firing. Affix blame, demonize, demand punishment to appease the masses of True Covid Believer. It’s pretty much the Alinskyite same tactic that Prog activists in the media have been pushing lately: The unwashed and unvaxxed should be denied medical care--smite them in the name of public spirited virtue! Never mind that the science is against this regressive approach--such objections totally miss the point that the Covid Regime is about politics and is the key to advancing the Prog agenda with the narrowest of majorities.
All that was to be expected. So, that being the case, one assumes that the GOP has been developing a response--a reasonable and sensible counter position based on science and all that has been learned both in the past two years as well as in the history of public health medicine. A response that will also protect our freedoms as citizens, and not mere subjects. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to be optimistic since, with a few notable exceptions, the standard GOP posture has tended to be one of Me-Tooism. It’s high time to take a principled stand. Failure to do so will inevitably have political costs--sitting back and expecting Zhou’s floundering to do the work in place of positive policy proposals will not excite support.
Here are some ideas for such a principled position, divided into three general categories that cover the broad sweep of the Covid Regime.
Political Order
The GOP needs to stand firmly for respecting the dignity of all persons, recognizing their ability to make informed decisions about their health and bodily integrity. There is a place for education in the mix, but coercion in the form of mandates--especially when we’re talking about experimental and largely untested medications--should be rejected. So, too, restrictions on essential freedoms--of association, of interstate travel--should also be rejected. The devastation to our economy and to human thriving must stop.
Medical Science
The public health emphasis needs to shift to treatment, and especially early treatment. A sensible first step is facilitating diagnosis--junk the inappropriate PCR testing and make simple, inexpensive, and effective home testing kits widely available. There’s no reason not to--it’s possible. Beyond that preliminary step, it’s time to reestablish trust in the patient - doctor relationship and respect for medical decisions made by primary care doctors. The use of prophylactic supplements (among others, Vitamin D and Zinc) as well as repurposed and long established medications should be encouraged rather than suppressed or neglected through silence. Ineffective or less effective measures--masking is a good example--should be left to individuals rather than to mandates.
Accountability
It’s time to consider the role of money in the Covid Regime and its continuation. Has the country--meaning We The People--gotten their money’s worth, or has the Covid Regime benefited the Science-Business-Financial establishments? Have simple yet effective measures been discouraged or suppressed in favor of less effective yet much more expensive measures? What has the role of our medical science establishment--government agencies especially--in the origins of the Covid Panic been? We need answers. If our Deep State intel agencies aren’t up to the job, let our legislators take it on.
In important respects the issue of Accountability is by far the most important, even if it’s not on the minds of average Americans. The Political and Medical issues are straightforward and relatively easy to grasp. What stands in the way of their implementation is the interest groups--the confluence of Science, Business (especially Big Pharma), and the Financial interests whose influence permeates all else. Including our politics and both political parties. It is this--opposing the Big Money interests--that will require political “courage” from the GOP in proposing these simple and scientifically sound policies. But there could be a dividend to reward that courage.
Only one thing to say about the GOP stepping up: "Haha!"
I truly hate being skeptical. I really do. But when I evaluate predictive statements around politics I always look at history and financial data. The history shows that Republicans have not ultimately stood up against the medical or pharmaceutical establishments (including when Obamacare was being pushed). The financial data shows that Republicans in general have been recipients of pharma money nearly as much (and in some cases more) as the Dems. Take a look at the following (for example) and some of the names may surprise you:
https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/pfizer-inc/C00016683/candidate-recipients/2020
I realize that for any industry the standard lobbying practice is to contribute some to all in a ratio based on projected "winners" at any given time, and then to hedge your bets. But at the same time, accepted contributions equate to some degree of expected leverage. When have the Republicans ever exhibited concern over the accountable use of "our" money in the medical services, equipment, or pharmaceutical industries vs. the leverage inherent with the contributions they have received? And of course leverage does not entirely reside with monetary contributions.
Many (most?) of us who might be inclined to vote Republican do so based on principles. After all that is what Republicans have been selling us on for what, 90 years? But the question becomes, just how strong are those principles within the GOPe when money is involved?