Politics, not economics, will decide COVID-19 death toll
The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing many of our society’s inequities and injustices, and a loud and growing minority want to make sure we do not address them.
Rugged individualism and conservative capitalism require winners and losers by definition. The self-sufficient survive, the needy suffer for their weakness. Some people succeed economically, while the rest become wage slaves. The cream allegedly rises to the top.
While some might deny it, this Darwinian philosophy underlies the demonstrations against stayat-home orders and public health closures. Why should healthy individuals sacrifice their freedom and income to protect someone else? What right does government have to manage their risk?
These arguments are gaining political ground despite polls showing most Americans think the nation is reopening too quickly. Yet there is consistency in the case for allowing more people to die.
President Donald Trump compares COVID-19 to the flu, a mostly preventable illness that kills about 30,000 Americans every year. Drug overdoses kill about 70,000 people a year, while heart disease and diabetes also kill tens of thousands more.
Every premature death costs the nation, on average, $10 million in economic losses, based on the formula used by the federal government. We know that providing universal health care would pay for itself by keeping workers healthier and preventing death.
Despite this financial logic, a vocal minority believes providing for the poor is abhorrent to American individualism and capitalism. They denounce plans to redistribute wealth for the common good and elect representatives who are content to let people die.
Gun deaths are another example. Last year, 39,492 people died from gunfire, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. We know restrictions on gun sales would reduce the
toll and save the economy billions of dollars.
While polls consistently show most Americans support stricter gun laws, a vocal minority opposes them. They win elections, so we tolerate three mass shootings a week in America.
More than 38,000 people die, and 4.4 million are injured in American road accidents annually, according to the National Safety Council. Pedestrian fatalities have skyrocketed in recent years. Stricter traffic laws and more public transportation would lower those numbers.
A vocal minority, though, opposes reduced speed limits, redlight cameras and more trains, all of which save lives. Therefore, we do little to slow the carnage.
We are a deeply divided nation between those who prioritize the individual and those who emphasize society. About 40 percent believe the other side is the enemy, while 20 percent are persuadable or don’t pay attention.
Rather than bring us together, COVID-19 has divided us even more, demanding that we choose between collective suffering or individual deaths. Our response is no longer based on science or economics, but sadly, on politics.
President Donald Trump stopped giving daily COVID-19 briefings on April 23 after his polling numbers began dropping. The Coronavirus Task Force will no longer focus on prevention but on restarting the economy, he said, because that’s what his supporters want.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to allow Texas businesses to quickly reopen — despite earlier promises to wait and rely on medical data — proves the GOP is held hostage to a libertarian minority, which is very good at amplifying itself.
Cybersecurity experts have traced the online movement Reopen America to a well-known conservative gun-rights activist in Iowa. According to investigative reporter Brian Krebbs and the security company DomainTools, the campaign against COVID-19 restrictions is not coming from the grassroots, but is Astroturf, manufactured outrage financed by unidentified groups.
Aaron Dorr is behind at least 150 websites that include the word “reopen” and launched them after Trump called on armed supporters to liberate states from COVID-19 restrictions, the experts found. All of them link to the same right-wing propaganda.
Dorr and his brothers have attracted 200,000 followers to their Facebook groups, which spread disinformation about COVID-19 and organize protests where men with guns garner widespread media coverage. He told the Des Moines Register he is proud of his work.
Generating spectacle and turning out the vote is how a vocal minority comes to dominate our political discourse and convince politicians to disregard public health. They cost the Texas economy billions in losses from preventable deaths and illnesses.
History proves that healthy populations drive economic growth and create wealth. So the choice is not between commerce and illness, but whether we act collectively or individually. If we only prioritized the economy, we would do more, not less, to reduce deaths of all kinds.
Public polling shows that most Americans prioritize saving lives. But polls do not count for much; only elections bring real change. Luckily, we have one coming up.