Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Elections Matter

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

by Kerry Dougherty

There are lots of one-issue voters out there. Until the COVID pandemic I wasn’t one of them.

This year and for the rest of my life I will vote against any candidate who supported unconstitutional lockdowns, school closures, curfews and vaccine mandates.

If I were a Democrat. I’d be horrified that the DeSantis for Governor campaign in Florida was able to produce this powerful campaign ad:

“You let me go to school.”

“You let us learn.”

“You saved our business.”

The best part? It’s truthful. DeSantis withstood blistering criticism from autocratic and wrongheaded public health officials in Washington to keep his state open.

It would have been far easier to cave as other governors did.

I remember when Ron DeSantis — the lone voice of sanity — announced that youth sports would go on as usual in spring of 2020. This was a time when they were stupidly arresting surfers in Malibu, closing playgrounds in New York and Virginians weren’t allowed to sit on our beaches.

The governor of Florida simply said kids needed to be outside and exercising. If parents didn’t agree, of course, they were free to keep their children home. Common sense over fear. What a concept!

While other governors enacted nutty rule after nutty rule — anyone else remember when we weren’t allowed to play volleyball or toss a football on the beach? — DeSantis ignored the fearmongers and Fauci worshippers and kept Floridians working. It wasn’t long before New Yorkers, Michiganders and Californians were migrating to the Sunshine State and governors like Gretchen Whitmer were secretly traveling there.

What does the other side have to say for itself?

This sort of inanity:

Yep, public health officials continue to treat Americans like idiots.

Every Republican candidate should be on the offensive, demanding that their opponents answer for lockdowns, mandates and school closures. Place the blame for the cataclysmic drop in test scores where it belongs: on Democrats.

Make them defend the insanity of the past two years.

Guess what? They can’t.

This column has been republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed & Unedited.

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Comments

49 responses to “Elections Matter”

  1. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    Refreshing to see a politician defending his policies and actions rather than the senile one blubbering like Darth Vadar in Depends in front of Independence Hall with Nazi – style lighting and Marine guards. Protect our freedoms? Ron DeSantis did. Rant like Hitler about how people who disagree with you are extremists while ignoring the economy? That was Biden.

    2024 will be an interesting election year. Hopefully, the Dems will find a dark horse to run instead of “get off my lawn” Biden or Vice President Giggles.

  2. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Sorta knew Kerry was a MAGA from the get go, eh?

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Gee, unless I was dreaming didn’t I see Trump on the stage with Fauci and Birx advocating school closures, lockdowns and curfews? By later in 2020 he was backing off on the school closures, etc., but read the Scott Atlas book and you’ll get some insight into how the people around Trump successfully resisted a change in direction, fearing the electorate. Good to know Kerry is ready to Dump Trump.

      Bit of a milestone for my wife’s family a couple of weeks ago, the first Covid funeral, this for her brother in law. I hadn’t seen that many masks since the airport in January (well, the hospital in May). Gent had Parkinson’s so was highly vulnerable when a caregiver brought in a dose of Omicron. Four shots notwithstanding, it went right into his nervous system.

      1. Philip Shucet Avatar
        Philip Shucet

        Stephen, sorry to read of your family’s loss.

      2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
        Dick Hall-Sizemore

        My condolences to your wife’s family.

      3. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        ready to dump Trump? really? Not my reading of Kerry… She’s MAGA and TRump, bet you!

        And Conservatives like you are shunned by both Trump and MAGA, right?

        1. Stephen Haner Avatar
          Stephen Haner

          Hey, I was called a RINO long before Trump made it an even more cool title.

          Let’s look at the scorecard again, the Real Clear Politics chart on the deaths per capita by state. Virginia still in the bottom third. Florida still in the top third. Florida deaths per capita almost 50% higher than VA. Part of that is Florida’s older population, but only part.

          https://www.realclearpolitics.com/coronavirus/country/united-states/

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            yeah, but you all vote the same way at the polls, right?

          2. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Can’t tell the difference when the lights are out, as they say.

            When Warner through behind Robb over North, you can bet these fine upstanding “RINOs” still pulled the switch for North. They’ll vote for Chase before a Democrat, even if it’s Jesus Christ in the 2nd coming.

          3. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Oh Pshaw. You’re no RINO. Because when push comes to shove you’ll vote for whatever flavor of Republican is on the ticket, and that makes you the flavor of the day Republican.

      4. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        I went to a funeral about 3 weeks ago for one of my friends and a co-worker where I used to work.

        I saw zero masks.

        This was in Manassas.

        He didn’t die of COVID, by the way. Virginia tobacco is what killed him.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          how about a doctor’s office or the hospital?

          1. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            The closest I’ve been is getting an eye exam last week.
            They had a sign up saying please wear a mask but I didn’t have one and they didn’t offer one or ask me to wear one, so I didn’t wear one.

        2. Stephen Haner Avatar
          Stephen Haner

          In this case the widow and her sister in law asked all to mask up, so sure. No problemo. This was nearby in Warrenton.

        3. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead

          It’s Manassas what do you expect. John Wayne Bobbit once lived there.

          1. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            As well as a guy named “High Test”. He was known for huffing gasoline. The Washington Post even did a story about him.

            But I think the lack of masks has less to do with it being Manassas and more that most people are over and done with them. When I was in suburban Chicago about a year ago not many people were wearing masks…

            …and Glen Ellyn is ARGUABLY way better than Manassas…

          2. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            John Wayne Bobbit was actually a Marine stationed at Quantico. He met Lorena while in the service.

            I suspect that Mr. Bobbit became a Marine because a judge somewhere gave him a choice between enlisting and going to jail.

  3. Teddy007 Avatar
    Teddy007

    How does it help Republicans to run against public health and for wanting to take public health back to the 19th century. In 1900 the biggest killers of Americans were infectious diseases. Why do Republicans and conservatives want to go back to that.
    It also makes no sense for conservatives to wet their pants about a mass shootings in Chicago but claim that 1 million deaths from Covid-19 is no big deal and not really a concern of government.
    If pandemics are not worth the effort than crime prevention should end immediately along with traffic regulation, building regulations, and environmental regulations.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      It doesn’t help and they are gonna get kicked hard again in November. But both sides shamelessly ignored science and exploited the pandemic for political gain.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        same thing with climate change – a hoax from the GOvt, right?

        1. Stephen Haner Avatar
          Stephen Haner

          The climate catastrophe narrative, yes indeedy. BS personified. Climate CHANGE is like all “change,” inevitable and constant and how the world works. You really claim to know what is “normal” climate? What is Virginia’s normal temperature or rainfall?

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            No I do not, but I do believe the climate scientists the same way I believe the public health scientists.

            The Climate deniers morphed into COVID deniers and election deniers, etc, right?

            It’s a generalized anti-govt, anti-science thing – and DeSantis thinks he can get elected on it.

            Correct?

            You seem to be the rare guy that doubts climate science but not public health science.

          2. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            Virginia’s normal temperature is hot enough to grow cotton. If you want to avoid moving to a place with a hot and humid climate you’d best avoid any place that has historically grown cotton.

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            or tobacco?

          4. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            Haven’t looked into tobacco, but I did look into cotton and it apparently grows best with a soil temperature of at least 68F.

          5. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            well, I read this:

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1df892827bcb479134b17352ffed6a8eecfc1bb2af0c0b4ec0af6cee635866b8.jpg

            https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/tobacco-in-colonial-virginia/

          6. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            One thing about growing tobacco is that it really depletes the soil. As I recall you can only get a few seasons out of the soil before you have to let it lie fallow, and then it takes 10 years or more to recover.

          7. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            I heard that also but as far as I know, cotton was not a big crop in Virginia and tobacco was and that was the slavery economy.

          8. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            According to monticello.org:

            Thomas Jefferson made plans to have enslaved laborers cultivate cotton at Monticello, and he made purchases of cotton seed. Yet little record remains to show how much cotton enslaved people produced or how successful the crop became at Monticello. By 1809, cotton was no longer grown in Virginia on a large scale. The growing season was simply too short compared with the deeper South. By this period, cotton was becoming quite expensive to buy as the U.S. stopped importing it.

          9. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnncsSkq0oU

            Today, Virginia cotton production (+/-200,000 bales per year) is nothing compared to states like Texas, but there are still a few hard-core farmers out there making a living at it.

          10. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead

            Between Disputanta and Suffolk on Rt 460 it looks like snow out in the cotton fields. The bulbs will burst their white fibers any day now.

          11. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            There was a cotton plant growing in the ditch by my mailbox. At least I think it was a cotton plant. It didn’t last very long.

          12. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            No I do not, but I do believe the climate scientists the same way I believe the public health scientists.

            The Climate deniers morphed into COVID deniers and election deniers, etc, right?

            It’s a generalized anti-govt, anti-science thing – and DeSantis thinks he can get elected on it.

            Correct?

            You seem to be the rare guy that doubts climate science but not public health science.

          13. Stephen Haner Avatar
            Stephen Haner

            One group has actual data, can do double blind random studies, etc. One group has theories and models.

          14. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            just hard to believe that the vast majority of scientists – around the world are wrong enough so that all of it is wrong , no chance they are even close to right.

            But the anti-public health folks have the same view about COVID i.e. scientists around the world are wrong.

  4. Philip Shucet Avatar
    Philip Shucet

    Florida’s death rate per 100,000 = 370. Virginia’s death rate per 100,000 = 250. Florida’s total deaths as of this month = 80,000; deaths in Virginia = 21,500.

    But we’re not in a contest to see which state can tally the most or fewest deaths from covid. People can do better than conflate tragic deaths with political whims.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Not sure if you are accusing me. If people are touting Florida as a model state for COVID management I think it valid to check those numbers. I think Virginia’s record on that is pretty good. Others have their hair on fire.

      1. Philip Shucet Avatar
        Philip Shucet

        Not at all, Stephen. Yours is a voice of reason. My final sentence reflects my disappointment with the tone of the column, not your comment.

    2. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      well, you’d think… but… most folks to the left of Conservatives, MAGA, and Trump do believe the Govt role in public health and typically get vaccinated when recommended regardless of whether it is Covid or Polio or influenza.

      But DeSantis is the “hero” of those who suspect the govt and science of nefarious motives for COVID.

    3. Tom B Avatar
      Tom B

      Are the numbers (370/250) adjusted for age? Since age seems to be a major factor (if not THE major factor), they seem meaningless without adjustment.
      The total deaths should also be adjusted for population.
      Comparing death rates across the population by age in both states would also give an indication of whether lockdowns, etc., actually worked.

  5. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    The fascinating thing about election’s matter is it never involves brain matter.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      candidates or voters?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        There’s a difference?

  6. Carter Melton Avatar
    Carter Melton

    Love him or hate him…..DeSantis has the best political ads I have ever seen. Check out his “Top Gov” ad.

  7. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Facts don’t matter to Kerry and others. Just to add to Steve and Phil’s comments: Florida’s COVID death rate was higher than that of the states of Oregon, Washington, California, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illlinois, and Wisconsin, among others. All those, except for Maryland and Massacusetts had Democratic governors and those two exceptions were moderate Republicans.

    So, it turns out, Kerry is right–elections do matter.

    1. James A. Bacon Avatar
      James A. Bacon

      Comparing mortality rates for states without adjusting for age is meaningless exercise for gauging the effectiveness of a state’s pandemic policy.

      The Bioinformatics CRO, a computational biology company, published a ranking in August 2022. “While COVID-19 deaths are usually adjusted for state population (deaths per 100,000), they are usually not adjusted for the age distribution of a state. It’s important to adjust for age when considering state-to-state differences in outcomes as age is the dominant risk factor for death provided someone is infected with COVID, and state age distributions vary considerably.”

      Age-adjusted COVID-19 deaths per 100,000:

      No. 1 Mississippi — 470
      No.3 Texas — 403
      No. 15 New York — 359
      No. 29 North Carolina — 295
      No. 31 Florida — 288
      No. 38 California — 267
      No. 41 Virginia — 249
      No. 52 — Hawaii — 100

      Obesity is another major risk factor, which might explain why Mississippi is No. 1 for COVID-19 mortality (either adjusted or un-adjusted).

  8. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Difference between Florida and Virginia?? Florida attracts the criminal class. Virginia rolls its own.

    https://www.npr.org/2022/09/06/1121241257/mj-capital-johanna-garcia-ruiz-pavel-ponzi-florida

  9. Lee Faust Avatar
    Lee Faust

    Purrrrrrrrrrrrfect

  10. William Chambliss Avatar
    William Chambliss

    As of today the deaths from Covid in the US is 315 per 100,000 of population. In Florida, that rate is 374 per 100,000. Third highest death total in the US behind only California and Texas, both of which have lower death rates at 241 and 312 per 100,000 respectively.

    I now see someone else reported these figures below. Didn’t intend to pile on.

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