Governor Abbottoir
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| Graphic based on Abbott photo by Bob Daemmrich from Nexstar and from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Image Library |
It is ludicrous and tragic what we have come to in my birth state. I resist calling it my home state because I truly do not recognize how far down the ladder leadership has willfully descended and a sizable part of the electorate with it. And I can’t say I feel at home here.
That the governor of Texas has taken several unconscionable moves to not just ignore the severity of the pandemic and jeopardize the lives of the citizenry (many of whom actually vote for him), but that he has actively demonized businesses and school districts that want to enforce mask wearing and is somehow attempting to enforce some fiat against those enterprises, defies credibility and calls into question (yet again) what this man is thinking. I use the terms lightly; “thinking” and even “man”. I am tempted to believe that anyone who cannot recognize the how badly people are suffering the effects of this pandemic (and to some degree, we all have) is not quite human. I certainly don’t see where any sufficient thought has been given to his policies can pass as such.
The Guardian singled out Abbott and DeSantis in a recent article on anti-vaxxers both in the U.K. and the U.S. It is a dubious honor that Texas can make the international news for this. This follows on Abbott’s contacting other states for assistance with providing more healthcare workers to stave off the surge of the coronavirus that has already overwhelmed one Harris County hospital and is on track to continue. Of course, this could have all been avoided, but Abbott wants to position himself as the governor standing up for the rights of individuals, to show he’s watching out for and protecting his voters from state oppression (i.e., the federal state because Texas sure doesn’t believe in regulations or telling people what to do…unless, of course, it has to do with ensuring public health and safety, and - I don’t know - listening to scientists and doctors.)
It isn’t as though this was unforeseen. The laissez-faire governance that characterizes much of the current GOP legislation grows out of callous indifference, critical cynicism, and frankly, criminal neglect of the very people they purport to serve. Of course, the walking back we see every now and again is reprehensible. From Alabama’s governor telling people (now) that they should get vaccinated to members of Republican leadership blaming the surge across the unvaccinated on immigrants, the Biden administration, and everyone but themselves. I have yet to hear a Republican in my lifetime admit that they themselves made a mistake. When they don’t blame someone else, they assume the passive voice: “mistakes were made.” But they’re not even trying here, where more than 600, 000 Americans have died needlessly, owing to attitudes and policies (or lack thereof) in responding to crisis that has affected everyone on the planet.
Additionally galling is the utter hypocrisy of people, both politicians and anti-vaxxers themselves who are willing to sacrifice the lives of children (not to mention the elderly or the immunocompromised), particularly when these are the pearl clutchers at the ready with a “won’t someone think about the children”? A Houston pediatrician has been urging parents to take COVID seriously as she sees increasing numbers of child patients.
Speaking of hypocrisy, what do you say about a governor who has been dismissive of COVID, the pandemic, the toll it has taken on lives across the state (and the world), his banning of masks, his vaccine mandates and who has just had his third booster shot?
As of yesterday, Wednesday, August 18, this is where Texas is in the COVID sweepstakes (click on image to enlarge):
| Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ |
It is astonishing that Texas has a governor that is actively ensuring sickness and death among the citizenry. Or perhaps it isn’t. He is a coward, afraid of offending his constituents and losing his grip on the office. However, this is pro forma, and not just for him, but for many of his colleagues. Fanning the flames of fear and ignorance under the rubric that immigrants or the Federal Government, or I don’t know, Democrat pedophiles are trying to take over your freedoms and that a virus that has killed well over half a million people in this country alone is fake or harmless, is par for the course.
I doubt if I’ll be around, but I want to see how this period of quisling behavior on the part of so many “leaders” (they’re really not) is assessed. Will they be held accountable for the spread of misinformation/lies and its consequences?
I recognize that Greg Abbott is not the only coward in the GOP right now, but he’s the Lone Star State’s coward (and not alone there/here, either) and should be held accountable now.
Postscript:
From Friday, 13 August 2021: “Texans have learned and mastered over the past year the safe practices to protect themselves and their loved ones from COVID, and do not need the government to tell them how to do so."
- Governor Greg Abbott’s spokeswoman Renae Eze
This is patent bullshit, Renae: look at the numbers, read the news:
It's just overwhelming': COVID patients see firsthand strain on Texas hospital staff
Texas now has the fewest ICU beds available it's had during the entire COVID-19 pandemic
96% of ICU beds across Texas are full as COVID cases surge: “Some wait hours, some wait days”
It’s not a question of “the government telling them to do so”, it’s a question of leadership guiding people to make the right decision to keep other people from getting sick and dying. You know, leadership? Oh. No. You don’t know, do you…
[UPDATE, 8/16/21] From a study by the Commonwealth Fund: Increasing COVID-19 Vaccination Rates in Florida and Texas Could Have Saved 4,700 Lives Through July
Each day we reap what is sown by the so-called Grand Old Party. It is certainly old and the dinosaurs in charge are in fear of extinction. That they have brought misery upon themselves and their followers is one thing. That the rest of us have to pay for it is altogether something else.
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