First Anniversary of the Failed American Coup

 I expect there is a particularly specific medical term which can be used to describe what people are doing when they choose to deny the facts and live in a fantasy.  The sad part is there are far too many people who are setting up camp in that whackadoodle world, and we're all suffering because of them.

Yes, I said it - right up top, there, I know it's been a pretty horrid year.  The facts are that the individual who swore to protect the nation AND the Constitution back in 2017 did NEITHER.  He chose to leverage foreign interference as assistance to his campaign to reach his goal, and he also sought to overturn a lawful election.  Now, many of his adherents are seeking to destroy our democracy by putting in place individuals who will deliberately and willingly overturn the results of any election they choose not to like.

Here we are, folks.  We're surrounded by a significant minority of idiots who have chosen to ignore the science and willfully aid in spreading a truly deadly disease because someone has chosen to manipulate their less than complete understanding, and this practice of sowing discontent and disinformation aids in destroying confidence.

So yeah, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm not at all confused.  It's a fucking train.  And unless we get our shit in a bundle, this will likely be the end of this country.

Which will, ironically, mean there are a fair number of exceedingly wealthy individuals who may discover they have very literally nothing.  I'm no prepper nut, I'm not going to start storing crap in my basement and look to hide from the future.  I'd much rather go down fighting for it.  Yes, I'm next to worthless except perhaps as cannon fodder, but if that's the role I need to play, so be it.  

We're a pretty big collection of diverse opinions, but back in 2000, when the Supreme Court of the nation chose to end the counting of ballots to be certain who won the Florida election, we started down a damned slick slope.  If nine people can prevent the legitimate votes of a state from being counted, how close are we, literally, to the end?  That ex-President of ours made it pretty plain not only how close we are, but how little it might take to push us way the hell down the slope.

And yes, all I'm doing here is whining, I'm not proposing solutions.  I know.  I was thoroughly disgusted the other day when local TV stations chose to give voice to a dozen or so people wailing outside the Mayo Clinic.  Now, you may be in a place where that name doesn't bring forth any particular ideals.  I am fortunate to live in this state, where one of the greatest medical organizations in the world came into existence.  So yes, I'm fortunate - I'm truly fortunate that, in a world like ours, there are some 73,000 professionals who are working hard to end many diseases as we now know them.

And I think it's somewhat comforting to know that, of the 73,000 people who work for Mayo, those who applied to their employer for specific religious exemptions for the COVID vaccine were often granted that exception.  And I'm truly comforted by the fact that not quite 1% - about 700 people - who CHOSE not to receive any COVID vaccine were instructed to do so, or to lose their jobs, and upon failure to receive that vaccine, they were terminated.

That makes me feel pretty good.  It does, because if there's 1% in a company like Mayo Clinic, one of the world's best medical providers, who don't agree with a vaccine, then there's probably a slightly larger minority in our entire population who might choose to be vaccinated.  That means that if we can communicate the facts to those who are hesitant, but not convinced not to receive the vaccine, we may be able to end this.  

Of course, there will always be some who will refuse.  Based on the current spread and infection rates, I'm fairly confident that within ten or fifteen years, pretty much anyone who has chosen not to receive a vaccine will be dead.  This thing is not going to go away just because we want it to, it's going to have to be driven away.  And the only way that's going to happen is that we're going to have to reduce the susceptible population to zero.  COVID is doing a fantastic job of that, killing most of the people who choose not to be vaccinated.  

And so, I find myself hopeful in the end that this disease will, in the end, turn out to be the chlorine our gene pool needed.  I remember well my father's limping gait for much of his life, before he ended up wheel-chair bound, and I know that as a planetary population, we managed to drive the scourge of polio to a point where no one today suffers like that.  Will COVID go the same way?  I doubt it, short term, but in the long term, I think it's likely.  In the long term, this disease will mutate through a number of cycles.  Those whom it can kill will die horribly, leaving yet another karmic curse on those who choose not to vaccinate.  I know there are some who have allergies and other reasons not to vaccinate - they have REASON, where there are those who point to a laundry list of ingredients in a vaccine and say "would you want that in you?" 

My answer every time I am asked is HELL YES.  I am not a fool.  I am a fairly intelligent person who also has a good amount of faith in his fellow humans.  And that means I'm going to look at a medication which has gone through medical testing, reviews, and all of the oversight that has to happen and I'm going to KNOW that in that pile of work, it really does not matter if there's one person or a dozen people who wish to murder millions.  I know there are an overwhelming majority - say 99.9% - of people who work in the field who do so because they want to help people.  

I'd much rather place my faith and fate in their hands than deny the effectiveness of a vaccine only to learn it might have helped long before I reach my deathbed.

I'm really starting to think that we need to set up, in the parking lots of our hospitals, a triage tent.  A simple thing, probably borrowed from the Army in some form, and in that tent, we put our best-protected, most highly vaccinated and health people, with armed guards.  And what they do is they very literally triage incoming patients.  You stop there, before entering the hospital, and they get a list of your symptoms and your complaints.  Once they're cataloged and know what the issues are, they then perform the following service.  If you are sick with COVID in some variant, you are checked for a vaccination.  If you are not vaccinated, you will need to provide the reason why this has not happened.  

If you wish further treatment for whatever ailment you have, and you are not vaccinated, I believe it is in our best interest to offer you the opportunity to receive the vaccine.  We would do this simply because the sheer volume of infected persons, and the ability of this virus to mutate, might make you an even sicker patient than you are.  So we're trying to protect you.  Should, however, you choose not to vaccinate and your reasons are not based in allergy, other documented health issue, or any other valid reason, then you will be permitted to leave the tent and be escorted from the hospital grounds.  We would do that, you understand, for your own good, because if you aren't vaccinated, you may well become even sicker if you get this thing.  And if you have it and don't want the vaccine, then why on earth would you want to continue to live?  I mean, really, if you want to live, but don't want to be protected from this thing which can cause your death, then are you really a sane person?  I mean, sane people seek to avoid death unless the alternative is worse.  Period.  Full stop. 

So that seems to me to be a logical step.  If you do not wish to be protected from this horrid disease, then why bother.  If you're sick, then maybe it's nature weeding out the weaklings, see ya, bye.

It's at least as valid as the point of view that says that in every single precinct throughout this entire country, there was a vast coordinated conspiracy to prevent a liar from being re-elected to a job he didn't do - because if you're not going to protect the nation and the constitution, you're no more useful than a plate in the White House.  And at that, I'd suggest maybe a cracked plate.  Because a good plate holds food.  A cracked plate is a hazard.  As are most cracked pots.  

So there we go.  Happy Anniversary.  May you and your descendants live long enough to see this day celebrated in the somber and regretful ways that we do, now, on September 11.  Just as sad, just as terrible, however, with a much lower loss of life, but no less of a threat to us from a much more dangerous foe to our beliefs and our ideals.

Because we know damned well he didn't value what we were before he became president.  So the best thing we can do is watch him withdraw into yet another crack in the sidewalk, where he'll be forgotten.  Most likely the only 21st Century President who will never have a library, a monument, or a street named after him because it's just such a sad comment on the nation.  But let's not forget what he did.  Because those who do not remember the past may have to repeat it.  And I for one would rather not see that happen.