Oh for a scythe for the political garden, to weed out the dangerous ideas that are spreading, much like kudzu spreads in our yards! A minority of government-hating, or people who profess to hate government (they are not ceding their home interest deductions, their Medicare, their public schools) are glomming onto ideas that we should stifle, before they take root. Dangerous ideas do take root, subtlety, inexorably. Think of Nazism, which started in a 1923 Munich beer hall, cheered on by angry drinkers.
Here are three awful ideas that will yield only misery.
First, dropping Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare has not been the overwhelming success of Medicare. It does not cover everybody, leaves key coverage decisions to states. But today swatches of the country, thanks to Obamacare, with its attendant reliance on states to expand Medicaid, have insurance. Critics may criticize that Obamacare is not perfect, does not cover everybody, penalizes the obese and smokers, does not cover abortion, has co-pays, is expensive … but criticizing is the purview of critics. And the statistics of coverage merit praise. Ninety-two percent of the US population was insured in 2022, up from 84.4% in 2010, when Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law.
But coverage varies dramatically by states. The Affordable Care Act yielded some decisions to the states; and here states — blue and red — have shown their stuff. The freedom-preaching, government-hating states leave far more people without insurance than their blue counterparts. South Carolina, former Governor Niki Haley’s domain, has 9% uninsured; Florida, the domain of Governor DeSantis, has 11.2% uninsured. Texas ranks the highest in uninsured, at 16.6%. The states with the fewest uninsured are Massachusetts at 2.4%, Hawaii at 3.6% and Vermont at 3.9%. Their not-so-secret secret: activist governors and legislators who expanded Medicaid to fill the gap left by Obamacare. We could scrap Obamacare — the rallying cry of former President Donald Trump. That would leave a lot of Americans uninsured. Why in the name of insane zealotry would anybody want to do that?
Next, dropping compulsory childhood vaccinations. Childhood vaccinations have long been accepted, starting with the polio vaccine. Years ago, when children were dying, ending up in iron lungs, or paralyzed, families, families welcomed the vaccines. There was, and is, no cure for polio, a contagious virus that doesn’t heed the usual safeguards of sanitation or nutrition. Why would we want to eliminate the need for compulsory vaccination, knowing that one unvaccinated child, from zealously “anti-vac” parents, might spread the disease to other children? We know about herd immunity, where a small minority of unvaccinated people will still be protected. But do we want to risk that? To put others at risk? Ditto for pneumonia, measles (no cure, but a statistical chance of damage), diphtheria, typhoid … Vegan diets, Bible study, fresh air — all may help children live happier lives, but will not protect them from infectious diseases as effectively as vaccines.
Finally, encouraging the use of fossil fuels. “The “climate deniers” reason: today is OK, probably tomorrow, so why fear catastrophe when the oil wells are gushing, our cars are running, the lights are on, and the economy depends on fossil fuels? Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy calls climate change a “hoax.” Trump suggests that the ocean will rise by 1/100th of an inch over the next 350 years — giving some lucky landowners more seafront property. Florida Governor DeSantis wants to expand the production of fossil fuels (and wants to eliminate mandates for electric vehicles). Former Indiana Governor Pence warned of “radical environmentalists.”
Discount the politically expedient rhetoric. “Climate change,” global warming,” “rising sea levels” are real, a verifiable truth for scientists. And public health researchers have linked the mercurial shifts in temperature to increased cases of asthma, lung disease, food and water-borne illnesses, and pest diseases like Lyme disease and West Nile virus. Fortunately, many politicians concede the reality; e.g, Chris Christie and Nikki Haley both concede the planet is warming, and that we must act, though they and other politicians disagree on the urgency. When the “climate-hoaxers” overpower the voices of reason, however, we will suffer.
Awful ideas are hard to stifle. They spread because the complacent among us ignore the dangers.
Joan Retsinas is a sociologist who writes about health care in Providence, R.I. Email joan.retsinas@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, January 1-15, 2024
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