Republicans are learning that "rugged individualism" won't stop the coronavirus

[applegrove]

Republicans are learning that "rugged individualism" won't stop the coronavirus

Trump's incompetence is a real problem — but decades of right-wing ideology have also made this crisis worse

https://www.salon.com/2020/03/13/republicans-are-learning-that-rugged-individualism-wont-stop-the-coronavirus/

"SNIP.......

...... But it's also important to understand that the larger Republican Party, even without Trump, is also to blame for what looks to be a serious public health crisis. Right-wing ideology, often marketed as "rugged individualism" but perhaps better understood as an aversion to the very concept of a common good, is one major reason why the U.S. government, hamstrung for decades by Republican power, isn't better equipped to handle a crisis. 

This isn't just a Trump problem. This is a widespread Republican problem. For decades, GOP strategy has been consistent: Whenever they get power, they slash regulations and gut spending, with the goal of making government less effective. This is a deliberate strategy to make the public broadly distrustful of government, and therefore increasingly open to shifting more and more power to the wealthy individuals who control the private sector.

This ideological commitment to an every-man-for-himself ideology, which is terrible in any circumstances, is exposed as particularly dreadful in the face of a pandemic. Disease is a reminder that humans are a herd species, wholly dependent on each other for survival, and that government must be a way to formally organize that joint survival pattern. It's not some villain in a racism-inflected right-wing morality fable about the importance of "personal responsibility."

Simply put, we need our government to be able to protect us from disease. Republicans have spent years tearing it down, and even in a crisis are incapable of accepting that "small government" is not always a good thing. 



......SNIP"

[Pillow talk]

1. i doubt it. they are not capable of acknowledging the entire conservative ideology is flawed

[pat_k]

2. Remember Bush's slogan "ownership society"? It's more like "you're on you own -ership"

We're seeing how well that works.

If this crisis is to teach us anything, it should teach us how much we rely on each other, and how much we need to start doing something meaningful to make sure every American has a REAL equal opportunity to thrive.