Yes, Virginia...The GOP Really IS A Death Cult

It really IS about "owning the Libs"

Republican officials around the country are testing a creative mechanism to build loyalty with unvaccinated Americans while undermining Biden administration mandates: unemployment benefits.... Florida, Iowa, Kansas and Tennessee have changed their unemployment insurance rules to allow workers who are fired or quit over vaccine mandates to receive benefits.

• Axios

When extended unemployment benefits were still in place earlier this year, Republicans on Capitol Hill couldn’t hide their disdain for government assistance. Never mind that America was still in the throes of a global pandemic; THERE WERE JOBS TO FILL!! Republicans had their panties in a wad because people in blue states were GETTING MONEY FOR NOT WORKING. Never mind that people had lost jobs because of the pandemic and that others were afraid to go back to work because of the virus. There were jobs to be filled, and Republicans weren’t about to stand by and pay people for remaining idle. So extended benefits ended in September, even as many red states had killed off benefits before the federal cutoff.

It’s hardly surprising that the Republican theory- people will go back to work once the “financial incentive to remain idle” is removed- proved to be incorrect. Then again, the GOP is famous for basing its policy initiatives on beliefs they WISH would be true instead of hard data and experience.

Instead, the policy they KNEW would work as they believed proved to be an effective means of creating more suffering among American families who’d already seen plenty. But, of course, alleviating suffering was never the GOP’s goal. Instead, it was all about making President Joe Biden look bad.

It’s about owning the Libs, don’tchaknow?

It was in the spring when many of the nation's Republican governors embraced a provocative economic idea. As regular readers may recall, after congressional Democrats approved enhanced unemployment benefits, these GOP officials decided the smart move would be to cut off the extra assistance to the jobless, in the hopes that it would force people back to work faster.

We now know, of course, that the idea was wrong, and the Republican policy didn't have the intended effect. But the larger point remained unchanged: Leading GOP officials saw unemployment aid as a problem. The sooner jobless benefits could be curtailed, the better off we'd be as able-bodied Americans returned to the workforce. Paying people not to work, Republicans argued, was counter-productive.

For Republicans, compassion for families in need of support was never part of the equation. Instead, they looked at the problem in terms of how they might gain political advantage from it. The reality that families would suffer if they got their way (they did) didn’t factor into the equation. Republicans didn’t understand paying people not to work, and if they could use that to damage Biden’s poll ratings, so much the better.

Then the toll from those who refused to respect vaccine mandates began to kick in, and some Republican governors realized that most of the people losing their jobs were Republican voters. So how to show them that the GOP cares (when it’s just a political calculation)?

Well, why not offer unemployment benefits to the unvaccinated and newly unemployed?

The point about aid to those who quit over vaccines is of particular interest: Ordinarily, Americans who voluntarily give up their jobs aren't eligible for unemployment benefits. But thanks to Republicans in these red states, those who quit their jobs to avoid vaccines can get checks from the government anyway.

As Catherine Rampell explained, these red states are now effectively "paying people not to get vaccinated."

So what have we learned from today’s lesson? The moral of the story seems to be that it’s OK to receive government assistance for not working if you’re Conservative and unvaccinated- GOP governors have your backs, don’tchaknow? But if you lean left, are vaccinated, and also unemployed…well, y’all can go pound sand. There are plenty of jobs out there going unfilled; why don’t you go out and get yourself one?

I could riff at some considerable length about the hypocrisy of the GOP’s position, but hypocrisy and Republicans go together like strippers and $20 bills. Unfortunately, that’s what happens on Capitol Hill and in red states these days.

The larger disconnect remains jarring. In the spring, unemployment insurance was derided by Republicans for creating unhealthy disincentives: People would make irresponsible decisions, they said, affecting themselves and the larger economy, as a result of unneeded financial rewards. The goal, they argued, should be to get as many people off jobless aid as quickly as possible.

But in the fall, as some Americans began losing their jobs after choosing to go unvaccinated during a pandemic, Republicans arrived at an entirely different set of assumptions. All of a sudden, government handouts to people who aren't working are a good thing — just so long as GOP officials approve of the recipients' political agenda.

If these jobless benefits undermine the Biden administration's efforts to get Americans vaccinated and curtail the pandemic, that's also a price these Republicans are willing to pay.

It's another detail to remember as Republicans try to blame the president for the fact that the crisis is still ongoing.

Of course, COVID-19 isn’t a “red state” or “blue state” problem. It’s an American- and a global- problem, but Republicans prefer to focus narrowly on their self-interest. Like any crisis, their interest lies not in how they can achieve resolution but in how they might maximize whatever potential political benefit might be realized.

As cynical as that sounds, it also happens to be the truth. Look at what’s happening among Republicans on Capitol Hill and in red states, and you’ll see that COVID-19 politics aren’t about saving lives. Republicans have no problems sacrificing lives in the pursuit of money and political power.

For Republicans, COVID-19 is first and foremost about how they can manipulate the crisis to portray President Biden as weak and ineffective. It’s about “owning the Libs.” The GOP has actively worked against mask and vaccine mandates, two things known to save lives. Why? At the risk of sounding hyper-partisan, I have to believe it’s because in the GOP’s political calculus, losing a few thousand Americans to COVID-19 (as long as it’s not anyone they know or love) is a cost of doing business.

It pains me to point that out in such stark and uncompromising terms, and yet it’s Republicans themselves who’ve demonstrated their lack of concern for human life. The GOP has stood against initiatives that would help protect public health and thus the lives of Americans. Instead, time and again, they’ve shown themselves to be more concerned about political gymnastics than human life.

Their latest initiative- providing unemployment benefits to the unvaccinated- only re-confirms their commitment to being a death cult. They could choose to rise above politics and recognize that this pandemic shouldn’t be about petty political concerns- not when lives are at stake. Instead, they’ve politicized COVID-19 every step of the way and have actively opposed mask and vaccine mandates that would save lives.

Does it get any more pathetically inhuman than that? I’m not sure it’s possible- but if there IS a way, you can bet that Republicans will be the driving force behind it.