I'm Glad To Be an American Where at Least I Know I'm Equal
by John Lawrence
Ah yes. America, Home of the Equal and Land of the Brave. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Later women were added. Equality - our founding principal. Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Preamble to the Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Equality to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Well, I've changed a word here and there except that Lincoln really did extol equality. Did Jefferson only want to promote the general white man's welfare or did he mean by "general" everybody including African Americans and Native Americans?
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, French for "liberty, equality, fraternity", is the national motto of France. The American motto is Liberty period. Equality got lost in the shuffle. Fraternité implies some sense of responsibility to fellow citizens. In America that doesn't exist in the American lexicon or consciousness. When asked why they haven't gotten vaccinated, Americans almost universally respond, "I'm young and healthy, and I don't think I'll get sick." The next logical question which is never asked is "Yes, but don't you want to protect others?" It's never asked because responsibility to fellow citizens, fraternité, is not an American value despite the fact that Lincoln said America was dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Politicians and fellow Americans have been, as thy say "walking it back" ever since. The only difference is that now Jim Crow doesn't just apply to African Americans. It applies to immigrants of all stripes, ethnicities and religious persuasions as well. We have equalized out prejudice.
Selfishness is the main American principle at this time. I'm free to be selfish; I'm free to be self interested. Wall Street exemplifies this. Profits über alles. Ayn Rand even made it a virtue in her book The Virtue of Selfishness. So naturally, the unvaccinated feel no responsibility to their fellow citizens to get vaccinated. The fact that they can impregnate others with the virus is no concern to them as long as they don't get sick themselves. It's endemic to America. Politicians have no allegiance to the truth only to their own selfish reelections. Corporate executives have no responsibility except to maximize short term profits for their shareholders and themselves. While Joe Biden and the Democrats are trying to "promote the general welfare," Republicans are only trying to promote their own welfare and that of their constituency which is mainly rich white voters. Otherwise, they would be "primaried." Increasingly, their constituency also includes white, angry voters. They are angry that whites are in danger of losing control of the country, and people in these other groups will become equal.
Will the unvaccinated stick to their political principles at the risk of losing their lives? Probably. They think it can't happen to them, and them is all they care about. Anything to give Joe Biden a defeat, and the perpetuation of the pandemic will give Biden a defeat. Eliminating the pandemic would be a victory for Biden, and we can't have that. As Mitch McConnell said, "‘100%’ of my focus is on blocking the Biden agenda." Senator Barrasso went even further. He said he wants "to make Joe Biden a one-half-term president." This means that they will double down on not getting vaccinated. This amounts to an American Götterdämmerung. This was the Wagner opera that inspired Hitler to destroy Germany and himself if he couldn't win the war. So if Republicans can't beat Biden, they would prefer to bring the whole world down around our ears. The unvaccinated will cause another spike in hospitalizations and deaths. Some will beg for the vaccine as they are dying, but by then it will be too late.