Oh my?

Just to follow up on a footnote from Wednesday’s post, it’s pretty clear that many Republicans (#NotAll…) want to restart businesses at the expense of the health and lives of workers. This should surprise no one. For four decades, Republicans have attempted to overturn environmental protections and worker safety regulations to LIBERATE BUSINESS (to use the phrase of a prominent local politician). Which is to say, they are willing to have people suffer and die for money. COVID-19 is no different.

That’s not entirely true: reopening too early will harm workers who are usually unharmed–or at least, infrequently harmed–by the Republican War on Workers (e.g., white collar workers). So Republicans are a bit sheepish, but make no mistake: this is what they have done for decades, and they aren’t going to change. They won’t rethink and reconsider, just regroup and rearm.

Like cruelty, this is an ideology, and there is no evidence they have abandoned it.