The Politicization of the Pandemic
By Moksha Akil
The spread of the coronavirus has become a pathway for some conservative activists and their political counterparts to spread their own agenda. Across the country, have taken to the streets in protests against shelter-in-place orders. For instance, protesters in Michigan wore Make America Great Again hats and chanted, “Lock her up,” aimed at their own Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. They were waving Trump flags, American flags and even a few Confederate ones. And when the Governor called out these protestors, a Fox News host seemingly attacked Whitmer for taking issue with the swastikas at the protest: "You are being too tough in verbally condemning the people marching with swastikas,” he said. The host tried to explain that the use of the swastikas was “ironic” and compared Whitmer to “fascist leaders.” The irony.
Protestors claimed that this lockdown infringed on their freedoms. While many of the protesters voiced concern for their small businesses, a large number of them had more ideological qualms. "If anybody else gets sick, they bear the consequences of their free choice without government coercion to do so. That's what this is about," one protester told CNN.
Too many protestors believe that any limitation on freedom is automatically tyrannical and fascist. In truth, though, it simply means looking out for others.
Many Republican politicians and vocal Trump supporters have spoken out on these protests. They’ve explained in a thousand different ways that the protestors have a point. They’re wrong.
There is no justification for the protests. They have become political, when the spread of the virus should not be at all politicized. Lockdowns and other such measures, meant to prevent the spread of the disease, are taken to protect everybody. People need to stop thinking solely about themselves and their own agendas. Richard Grenell, the Acting Director of the Office of National Intelligence and Ambassador to Germany, posted a photo on Instagram of the Bill of Rights with the title “Signed Permission Slip to Leave Your House” as if, again, our freedoms give us a right to put people at risk.
A New York Times op-ed wrote about this. “Regardless of who’s behind them, the intent is to sow division and attempt to reshape public opinion,” Charlie Warze noted. But the politicization doesn’t stop with the protestors.
The Republican Wisconsin government has also decided to push its own agenda in spite of the virus. Their primary elections were held on April 7, after they refused to postpone them or expand their mail-in voting. At least sevens people contracted the virus from that incident. And other politicians have actively incited these protests. Conservative activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk described them as a “peaceful rebellion against governors.” A “peaceful” rebellion that happens to involve blocking ambulances from reaching the hospital.
Trump is another example. Trump plans on suspending immigration into the U.S. in order to try and protect American workers from competition. It plays on a common political refrain from the right—that “immigrants are stealing our jobs.” Trump is feeding into this political narrative, even in the midst of a global pandemic. He tweeted, “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” He is using health concerns as a reason to expand travel restrictions, slow visa processing and prevent asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants from entering the country. Trump has also made the order to stop the production of green cards and work visas, according to the New York Times. This is Trump’s normal political agenda, disguised by the argument that it will all ease burdens on our healthcare system.
Pushing an agenda other than the welfare of the country and the safety of the people is self-centered and politically abhorrent. While freedom is something we ought to value dearly, we seem to misconstrue it when it comes to situations that involve doing something for someone else. This confusion about the meaning of liberty allows politicians to pursue their agendas and claim to be “heroes of liberty.” A global pandemic is not the time to focus on our own politics; it is a time to focus on the ones that can’t self-isolate, on those who need to self-isolate, on those running out of money, on the sick, on essential workers, on our country.
It is time to think about someone other than ourselves.