Dan Patrick gave us a lesson on the meaning of sacrifice. The Lt. Governor of Texas says he is worried about the state of the economy. He echoed Donald Trump and said that if the economy goes sour, we’ll kill more people than COVID-19. Let’s put everyone back to work, says Dan Patrick. If that means sacrificing seniors like him (He’s 69 years old), so be it. Most of the people sacrificed aren’t that useful to society anyhow. They are too elderly or too sick to work.
Not me. I would happily sacrifice myself for my grandchildren if I knew that was who I sacrificed myself for and it was necessary. For the economy? For Donald Trump’s reelection?
Then I thought about Dan Patrick’s proposal. It is pernicious. It reminds me of Germany.
People have stopped comparing Trump to Hitler. It was overdoing it. Trump may be an authoritarian. Comparing Trump to Hitler, Republicans to Nazis was inaccurate. The Nazis were murderers on an epic scale. Trump and his Republican allies have authoritarian tendencies. They endanger democracy. They endanger some of our freedoms. But they weren’t killing people.
Until now.
Wait. ICE may actually be killing people in our own camps. Setting them up to die from the coronavirus. The detainees are one more group they see as not useful for our society.