Successful Politicians Shouldn’t Kill Their Voters — At Least Not Before an Election
Then why are so many Republicans discouraging vaccinations?
A successful virus doesn’t kill its host, at least not right away. A virus’ goal is to replicate its genetic material as many times as possible. If a virus kills its host immediately, that host won’t have time to infect other people. Thus, all successful viruses allow their hosts to live and spread the virus to others. Once the virus has spread, it may kill its host, but that is just an unfortunate side effect, not the virus’ goal.
In the same way, a politician shouldn’t kill his/her voters, at least not right away. A politician’s goal is to get as many votes as possible, to win elections. If a politician’s policies kill his/her voters before an election, he/she risks losing the election. Once the politician wins an election, his/her policies may kill his/her voters, but that is just an unfortunate side effect, not the politician’s goal.
Given this logic, the Republican’s current anti-vaccine stance is completely illogical. Let’s do some back-of-the-napkin calculations. A survey conducted in June 2021 found that 77% of Democratic adults are fully or partially vaccinated, whereas only 52% of Republican adults are. Say that no one is partially or fully…
