"Government-imposed Seatbelt Mandates Represent A Harmful Combination Of Virtue Signaling And Unjustified Fear"

Jokers to the left of me, covidiots to the right....

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of three Republican members of Congress who last week filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the House mask mandate, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, he said in a statement Thursday.

“After experiencing minor symptoms this morning, I sought a covid-19 test and was just informed the test results were positive,” Norman tweeted Thursday afternoon. “Thankfully, I have been fully vaccinated and my symptoms remain mild.”

Norman added that he would be in quarantine for the next 10 days and work virtually “to every extent possible.”

A week ago, Norman — with Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — filed a lawsuit against Pelosi (D-Calif.) arguing that fines they had incurred for not wearing masks on the House floor were unconstitutional. The three were each fined $500 in May for mask violations.

They argued that, at the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had changed its guidance to say that fully vaccinated people most likely did not have to wear masks. Pelosi, however, kept in place the mask mandate on the House floor, sparking a backlash among House Republicans, who accused Pelosi of wanting simply to “control” the chamber.

When the history of the COVID-19 pandemic in America is written, I fully expect that one of the early chapters will chronicle the “covidiots” among us. I’m referring, of course, to those convinced that their beliefs are superior to science (and/or that their faith in Jesus will protect them).

These covidiots, many of them in Congress, have refused to get vaccinated and/or follow even the most basic CDC guidelines. For them, “MUH RIGHTS!!” are the most precious of commodities, surpassing public health and the safety and well-being of those they come into contact with.

They don’t like being told what to do…especially by know-it-all Liberal scientists, who, they want us to believe, wish to control the population. It seems everybody wants to rule the world….

As ANY righteous, right-thinking American patriot knows, facemask mandates are just Left-wing control mechanisms intended to turn citizens into obedient sheeple.

And the vaccines contain tracking chips, will alter your DNA, magnetize you, and/or make you unrecognizable to Jesus during the Rapture.

(Insert argument re: seatbelts, traffic controls, etc., ad infintum, ad nauseam here)

I suppose that’s one way to look at this most difficult of times we face. The other is that- HEY, GUESS WHAT??- we’re facing a worldwide pandemic. Something we can’t even see is trying to kill us…and, in too many cases, succeeding. So one could be forgiven for believing that reasonable, compassionate, and rational people would do everything possible to protect not only themselves but those around them.

Of course, the one thing that most reasonable, compassionate, and rational people assumed (mistakenly, as it turns out) is that even those on the Far-Right would put country and public health over their narrow fear and ignorance.

In retrospect, it came as quite a shock to learn that selfishness, ignorance, and self-importance were the three defining values of the Far-Right and the Republican Party. Combine that with the wanton peddling of lies and dezinformatziya by the Right-wing media, and you get patriots denying reality…in some cases, literally to the point of dying.

Then we have the spectacle of Republicans in Congress sheepishly admitting that they’ve tested positive for COVID-19. Of course, they’ll never admit that their own arrogance and irresponsibility are the reasons for their diagnosis. That would mean admitting that they were wrong all along- something no good, God-fearing, Conservative, heterosexual patriot would EVER cop to.

The saddest aspect of this pandemic is the more than 600,000 people who’ve died thus far. Most of those deaths could’ve easily been prevented. Had Fox News Channel, et al., not spent the last 18 months pushing lies and propaganda, things might have been different. Had Conservative zealots not invested so heavily in politicizing the pandemic, many thousands of Americans might well still be alive today.

Instead, the Far-Right HAS thoroughly politicized the world’s worst public health crisis in a century. Because of this, basic precautions- wearing a mask, social distancing, and getting vaccinated among them- have become political statements instead of ways to protect one another.

I could single out Rep. Norman for his egregious covidiocy (and, yes, I do believe I just invented a word), but I’d take no joy from that. Norman is merely the latest in a long line of covidiots on the Far-Right who’ve politicized the pandemic to build their political brand.

Norman and so many other (et tu, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene?) political, intellectual, and moral nonentities have devalued the lives of thousands of Americans to pump up their political prospects.

No, that may not be the textbook definition of genocide, but from where I sit, it’s a pretty serviceable one.

A global pandemic shouldn’t be an occasion for moral reprobates to engage in endless displays of political turd-polishing. It shouldn’t be a forum for chest-thumping and endless, pointless rounds of “I’M A BETTER AMERICAN THAN YOU!!” COVID-19 doesn’t care about political affiliation, ideology, or whether you believe in science. It’s going to do its thing regardless of anything you might think or believe. So you can come along for the ride…or not.

Science doesn’t give a damn.

Once upon a time, about 75 years ago, an entire generation of Americans came together to defeat the scourge of Nazism and malevolent autocracy. The “Greatest Generation” saved America from a future that would’ve made today look very different. Indeed, they sacrificed so that future generations could continue to live free.

And so we have.

Fast seven decades or so, and we can’t even convince some folks to wear a face mask or get vaccinated against a silent and invisible killer. The “Not Even Slightly Below Average Generation” is a cowardly, self-absorbed mash-up of those too ignorant, arrogant, and self-righteous to recognize that they’re not the smartest or even the best people in the room.

If you think I’m being harsh and unreasonable, consider this: If you believe that Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, and Ralph Norman are “leaders,” America is without a doubt utterly screwed. These moral dwarfs couldn’t lead a group of hungry Cub Scouts to a Dairy Queen.

America didn’t have to lose more than 600,000 innocent souls…yet here we are. We have nothing to be proud of.

Indeed, there’s much we should be ashamed of. But, of course, that presumes those who should be ashamed are even capable of understanding and processing shame.