‘Lethal partisanship’: Term fitting of situation in U.S.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s reckless, politically motivated ban on all Covid-related mandates will lead to many more needless deaths in a state that has suffered too many already. But the Republican’s extremism could have one salutary effect: It will underscore the need to make the moral case for the urgency of vaccine requirements.

Abbott did not even try to disguise the extent to which his executive order is political showmanship aimed at inspiring the Trumpist right. Its language reeks of political advertising.

“In yet another instance of federal overreach,” Abbott declared, “the Biden Administration is now bullying many private entities into imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, causing workforce disruptions that threaten Texas’s continued recovery from the COVID-19 disaster.”

Actually, the bully here is Abbott. He is going after not only President Joe Biden but also private companies desperate to protect their employees and customers. Conservatives, apparently, are all for free enterprise until they are not.

Among the companies defying Abbott’s interference with their decision-making are Dallas-based Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, headquartered in Fort Worth. In another signal of just how out there Abbott’s move is, consider that the Greater Houston Partnership, a business group whose members include Exxon Mobil and Chevron, came out against the governor’s order, saying it “does not support Texas businesses’ ability and duty to create a safe workplace.”

When a Texas governor moves to the right of Big Oil, it’s the end of the world as we know it.

It’s no secret, of course, that our country is in political crisis. But at least as dispiriting is our inability to have a sane conversation about how best to beat back a virus that as of Wednesday had killed more than 717,000 Americans.

In 2019, political scientists Nathan Kalmoe and Lilliana Mason coined a term for our situation: “lethal partisanship.” “Lethal” turns out to have been no exaggeration.

It is, in theory, possible to have a civil argument over vaccine mandates, where they are most appropriate, and whether there should be carve-outs for those with conscience objections. Biden sought to avoid requiring vaccinations earlier this year, hoping that persuasion and the overwhelming evidence of the vaccines’ efficacy would move Americans to get their shots.

Most of us have. As of Tuesday morning, 56.5% of the population were fully vaccinated. But that is far short of what’s needed to neutralize the virus, and rates of full vaccination vary wildly by state: In Wyoming, 42.6% of the population is fully inoculated, compared with 70.3% in Vermont. The costs of low vaccination rates are measured not only in deaths but also in the inability of hospital systems to keep up. This threatens COVID patients and those with other conditions.

The anger of the growing vaccinated majority favors Biden in any political showdown with the likes of Abbott. So does the desire of businesses, small and large, to get the economy back to normal. “It’s straightforward,” White House virus coordinator Jeff Zients said. “People want to work, shop and visit where they feel safe.” Thus will many Democrats welcome the fight that Abbott and the far right have started.

The dispiriting part is that, while we already knew polarization was a problem, we didn’t expect it to kill us.