Clowns To The Left Of Me, Covidiots To the Right....

Idaho Republican Janice McGeachin is playing politics with the lives of her constituents

BOISE, Idaho — With COVID-19 cases continuing to spike in Idaho, Gov. Brad Little outlined the state’s increasingly dire situation as Idaho nears the activation of crisis standards of care. Little said Tuesday he was deploying members of the National Guard to help strained Idaho hospitals.

For the public, Little said one way to help would be getting a COVID-19 vaccine. “It is our ticket out of the pandemic,” Little said.

Just minutes after Little made his plea, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin called his suggestion “shameful.”

“It was shameful for Brad to suggest today that Idahoans must make a specific medical choice in order to show love for their neighbors,” McGeachin said in a tweet. “I trust YOU to make your own health choices.”

If you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest, you don’t hear much about Idaho. Even if you DO live in the Pacific Northwest, you don’t hear much about the Gem State. It’s like what Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland- “There’s no ‘there’ there.” Unless you’re someone who values outdoor activities, wants to live off the grid, or are a White nationalist, Idaho is not a place that leaps to mind when one is looking for a destination. Tucked comfortably between Montana, Oregon, and Washington, Idaho is famous for potatoes, rabid Right-Wing politics, a few rabid racists and Christian nationalists…and not much else.

Of course, that description is overly simplistic. Idaho is a lovely place, though the politics can be a bit off-putting. From time to time, it can make Texas and Florida look almost sane.

In this case, the silliness revolves around Gov. Brad Little’s plea for his constituents to get vaccinated against COVID-19. He’s an outlier in that he’s a Republican Governor advocating for vaccination…and that’s a bridge too far for his political opponent, Donald Trump sycophant Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin.

McGeachin, who’s opposing Little in the upcoming Republican Gubernatorial primary, quickly jumped on the Governor’s plea, calling it '“shameful.” Because asking Idahoans to do the right thing for the right reason (thinking about the greater good) is something only losers and Liberals do.

What’s “shameful” is McGeachin’s penchant for appealing to the selfishness that far too many on the Right side of the political/ideological spectrum have shown during the pandemic. Little is right when he says that the COVID-19 vaccine “is our ticket out of the pandemic.” With less than half of the eligible population in Idaho currently fully vaccinated, there’s clearly room for improvement.

Little is looking at the vaccine from the common good perspective, while McGeachin is approaching from a selfish, me-first perspective. There are times- and this pandemic is one of them- when the needs of the many should, do, and must outweigh the interests of the individual. We know that vaccines work. Despite Republican denial and pushback, the science is clear- the three vaccines currently available in the U.S. are safe and effective. The Pfizer vaccine has obtained full FDA approval, and the other two probably aren’t far behind.

There’s nothing “shameful” about asking people to think about something larger than themselves, to place the greater good over their own narrow self-interest. What’s “shameful” is McGeachin’s determination to twist Little’s plea into something sinister because she thinks she can score some cheap political points. That’s the sort of demagoguery that can only result in people dying needlessly.

As a Trump Republican, McGeachin’s strategy has opposed virtually everything Little stands for or has accomplished. She hasn’t stated specifically what she would do differently, but she’s been voluble in her opposition to Little’s every thought, word, and deed. So it is with her coming out against Little’s pleas for Idahoans to get vaccinated.

Again, McGeachin doesn’t have a response, other than to say that getting vaccinated is a matter of personal choice that each Idahoan should be free to make on their own.

Except that if McGeachin had bothered to pay attention to what public health officials have had to say, she’d understand that’s not at all how things should be working.

Despite this, McGeachin is all about “liberty” and “freedom.”

Earlier this summer, McGeachin asked hospitals to suspend their coronavirus vaccine mandates. St. Luke’s and Saint Alphonsus health systems, two of the largest in Idaho, announced in July that all staff must get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“The issue at hand is a matter of individual liberty and freedom,” McGeachin said in July. “Those who have made the personal medical choice not to take this vaccine deserve to have their decisions respected.”

As of Tuesday, around 48.6% of Idahoans age 12 and older were fully vaccinated, according to statistics from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

In a state where not even half of those eligible are vaccinated, “individual liberty and freedom” is a poor plan for getting the pandemic under control. As harsh as it may sound, McGeachin’s choice to politicize the response to COVID-19 could and almost certainly will result in needless deaths. Then again, it sounds as if she’s far more concerned with her political prospects than the lives of her constituents.

“Individual liberty and freedom” aren’t going to do anyone any good when then on a ventilator or, even worse, in a body bag.

The Lt. Gov. needs to understand that getting vaccinated is not “a personal medical choice” and that those who refuse to be vaccinated don’t “deserve to have their decisions respected.” She should understand that these decisions impact not just the individual but the wider community. If she can’t grasp that, she’s part of the problem and deserves to be marginalized and ostracized like the rest of the unvaccinated.

I’m tired of the unvaccinated being the ones allowed to set the agenda, and I suspect the 48.6% of vaccinated Idahoans are as well. It’s time those of us who’ve chosen to do the right thing demand that the burden be shifted to those who continue to err on the side of selfishness, arrogance, and ignorance.

Janice McGeachin should lead in this effort. If she can’t do that she can follow…or get the Hell out of the way…because lives are on the line.

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