GOP: Selfish and Arrogant

The Republicans make me sick. And it's not just the GOP leaders, it's the people who follow them, as well.

Full disclosure, I've thought the GOP has been selfish and arrogant for years. At least, the ones in Washington, which seemed to cater to the rich and ignore the rest of us, and which now are above commenting on the rantings of a dangerous president.

But now it's evident in my home town, too. I see, everyday, people who obviously don't care if I, or my neighbors or my family members, live or die.

I'm in a Republican stronghold, and just like the GOP leaders, the people in my community pretty much don't wear masks.

It isn't just a "freedom" thing, or a "rights" thing, both very important and necessary to our democracy. It's a selfish thing.

Health experts and our government say wearing masks PROTECTS OTHER PEOPLE. Like maybe the ten-year-old I know who's had chemotherapy. Or my wife who has an auto-immune disease. Or my 87-year-old mom. And the people who don't wear masks--despite health and government warnings and recommendations--say, really, I'm gonna do what I wanna do, and I don't care if you live or if you die.

"But I'm not sick, so I don't need to wear a mask." is a popular refrain.

That's where the arrogance comes into play. The same health and government experts warn that people can transmit the virus without knowing it--because they may be asymptomatic (kind of a carrier without getting the disease yourself) or pre-symptomatic (you have it, but it hasn't yet reared its ugly head--which sometimes takes two weeks). So, these people think they know more and are better than everyone else.

And it makes me sick.

Right now, only figuratively. But for some (and maybe me in the future) literally, as well.

And they just don't care. Trump plans political rallies without precautions, our Vice-President--the leader of the coronavirus task force--salutes his dozens upon dozens of campaign workers in a tweeted photo that showed no social distancing or face masks.

And, most sad and terrifying of all, my neighbors, people I've known, waved to as they pass my home, families of kids from whom I've bought candy and plants from their fundraisers, don't care if I live or if I die. They just don't want to wear a mask.

And it makes me sick.

And it should (or might) make you sick, too.

While a Nation Weeps

On the horrible coattails of a pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 of our fellow Americans, now comes the reaction of a horrified and devastated nation as a white policeman appears to murder a black Minneapolis man.

And our President hides: in a bunker, in his deflecting Tweets, in quizzically holding a Bible aloft at a press briefing in which he suggests violence as the only way to soothe the nation's wounds.

He orders troops to fire upon our fellow citizens--our fellow Americans--peacefully exercising their Constitutional rights in broad daylight--to clear a path for his photo op and his "law and order" threats. That's so important, I will say it again, louder this time: THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ORDERED TROOPS TO FIRE UPON AMERICANS PEACEABLY EXERCISING THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

And, again, instead of calming and rallying and providing comfort and hope, our President invokes violence, division and hatred.  And please don't ignore that he's done so, yet again, against segments of society that are predominantly African-American ("Get those (kneeling) sons of bitches out of  (the NFL)" or his beloved birtherism).

And Trump doesn't care. Well, he doesn't care for anything beyond his popularity with his, yes, deplorable base and his chances for reelection. And many of his GOP cohort seem to have little concern either. People die, and Trump and his GOP just view it as another day at the office.

While a nation weeps.