Among the deficits revealed by the coronavirus is that one of Wisconsin's two critically-important representatives in the US Senate is a cold-hearted cipher who represents only himself and a handful of the similarly-protected-and-privileged.
That would be Tea Party remnant, Republican and-Fox-News-inspired Ron Johnson, poised to vote (feels like 'No' is coming) on a bill which would offer some temporary relief to a nation left unprepared by phony 'homeland security [Sic] officials' like Johnson himself for a pandemic.
Yet he has put words to a cold, empathy-free calculus for constituents who are stressed, sick, suddenly going broke and may be facing death.
At the heart of his heartless words and world view is this truly banal suggestion
You can read his entire 'explanation,' H/T to the Journal Sentinel's Craig Gilbert, and no matter how hard he tries to make rational his irrational Ayn Randian 'philosophy, Johnson cannot hide from what he really believes:
* 3.4 percent of the US population of about 330 million people is 11,200,000 - - which is a giant number if everyone caught the virus, and over time that's not an unreasonable scenario.
Downsize the death toll if we're lucky, take successful self-care measures while Trump wasted weeks of valuable time, and a vaccine emerges faster than predicted.
Let's say the infection rate is only a tenth of the US population. A million+Americans is a lot of human beings.
* That maximum number is eight times the total number of US military personnel fatalities - - from battle and other causes - - in all US wars, according to the VA.
Get the picture? 3.4% of the entire country gets pretty overwhelming really fast, so here's a local perspective.
* It's 19 times the population of the City of Milwaukee.
Want a number based on 3.4% of X that's so big it's incomprehensible?
* Worldwide, think 261,000,000 human beings out of 7.7 billion. Here's a chart and map that suggest "pandemic" is the absolute correct worldwide word.
And yes, the number of the afflicted may be lower. Say it's half: Would Johnson take a victory lap if the US death toll was a mere 5,600,000.
And the numbers might be bigger, as the virus is predicted to go, and re-appear, and return seasonally for a long time.
A vaccine would be welcome, but we know that's months away in best case scenarios, and as we've seen with flu shots, vaccines are not 100% effective.
Any way you slice it, the number of dead Americans now at just over 100 is going to spike. Stop trying to tie bows on it.
And by the way, as we're remembering that Johnson opposes remedial federal financial aid because of 'unintended consequences' - - like his pathologically stupid fear of promoting laziness - - and I'd say Wisconsin needs to take a really hard look at the consequences of electing this Tea Party hangover to the Senate - - this is not the first time Johnson has displayed his indifference to people and constituents.
He has gracelessly confused commerce for compassion, shrugged off other people's pain and dismissed basic human needs - - health care, food, shelter - - of people with less power, privilege and plain old good luck than he's been enjoying enjoying
That would be Tea Party remnant, Republican and-Fox-News-inspired Ron Johnson, poised to vote (feels like 'No' is coming) on a bill which would offer some temporary relief to a nation left unprepared by phony 'homeland security [Sic] officials' like Johnson himself for a pandemic.
Yet he has put words to a cold, empathy-free calculus for constituents who are stressed, sick, suddenly going broke and may be facing death.
At the heart of his heartless words and world view is this truly banal suggestion
...put this all in perspective...which I'll do in just a couple of grafs.
You can read his entire 'explanation,' H/T to the Journal Sentinel's Craig Gilbert, and no matter how hard he tries to make rational his irrational Ayn Randian 'philosophy, Johnson cannot hide from what he really believes:
Johnson acknowledged that coronavirus has a far higher fatality rate than the seasonal flu, but said, “getting coronavirus is not a death sentence except for maybe no more than 3.4 percent of our population (and) I think probably far less,” he said.So, for the perspective which Johnson is looking for:
* 3.4 percent of the US population of about 330 million people is 11,200,000 - - which is a giant number if everyone caught the virus, and over time that's not an unreasonable scenario.
Downsize the death toll if we're lucky, take successful self-care measures while Trump wasted weeks of valuable time, and a vaccine emerges faster than predicted.
Let's say the infection rate is only a tenth of the US population. A million+Americans is a lot of human beings.
* That maximum number is eight times the total number of US military personnel fatalities - - from battle and other causes - - in all US wars, according to the VA.
Get the picture? 3.4% of the entire country gets pretty overwhelming really fast, so here's a local perspective.
* It's 19 times the population of the City of Milwaukee.
Want a number based on 3.4% of X that's so big it's incomprehensible?
* Worldwide, think 261,000,000 human beings out of 7.7 billion. Here's a chart and map that suggest "pandemic" is the absolute correct worldwide word.
And yes, the number of the afflicted may be lower. Say it's half: Would Johnson take a victory lap if the US death toll was a mere 5,600,000.
And the numbers might be bigger, as the virus is predicted to go, and re-appear, and return seasonally for a long time.
A vaccine would be welcome, but we know that's months away in best case scenarios, and as we've seen with flu shots, vaccines are not 100% effective.
Any way you slice it, the number of dead Americans now at just over 100 is going to spike. Stop trying to tie bows on it.
And by the way, as we're remembering that Johnson opposes remedial federal financial aid because of 'unintended consequences' - - like his pathologically stupid fear of promoting laziness - - and I'd say Wisconsin needs to take a really hard look at the consequences of electing this Tea Party hangover to the Senate - - this is not the first time Johnson has displayed his indifference to people and constituents.
He has gracelessly confused commerce for compassion, shrugged off other people's pain and dismissed basic human needs - - health care, food, shelter - - of people with less power, privilege and plain old good luck than he's been enjoying enjoying
...we pay the married-into-wealth Tea Party Republican millionaire Johnson $174,000 a year so he can try and try and try again and again to strip people of their health care.
And then we pay again to fly RoJo home so he can insult the intelligence of students at the high school in the deep-red Waukesha County community of New Berlin where he made his robotically ideological and heartless stand - - and even alluded to a Rand Paul position on health care equating it to slavery, according to WISN TV 12:
Do you personally consider healthcare as a privilege or a right?" one student inquired.
Wisconsin's junior senator did not hesitate: "I think it's probably more of a privilege... Do you consider food a right? Do you consider clothing a right? Do you consider shelter a right? What we have as rights is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Past that point, we have the right to freedom. Past that point is a limited resource that we have to use our opportunities given to us to afford those things."
Wisconsin's junior senator did not hesitate: "I think it's probably more of a privilege... Do you consider food a right? Do you consider clothing a right? Do you consider shelter a right? What we have as rights is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Past that point, we have the right to freedom. Past that point is a limited resource that we have to use our opportunities given to us to afford those things."