9 Debate Moments That Got Public Health Right… Sorta
All Americans want a long and healthy life, so public health efforts must be non-partisan and a top priority. Though everyone can usually agree on public health threats, the solutions are up for debate — which was on parade last night during CNN’s GOP debate.
Public health was everywhere. I counted at least 18 different public health issues that got mentioned during the broadcast:
The powerful presence of public health issues at the debate, while no candidate mentioned the term itself, is indication that Americans are thirsty for leadership to reframe and define a clear path to a culture of health.
While critical issues like food and race were largely missing, the GOP candidates actually said some productive things about public health… sorta.
Here are 9 times they almost got it right:
1) Rand Paul: “The war on drugs has had a racial outcome”
Rand Paul made the healthiest point of the night by calling out the racism of mass incarceration.
“The people going to jail for [drugs] are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren’t.
I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I’m a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail.
I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time.”
His clear and bold stance on this complex root cause of poor health is gravely needed. It’s time for bipartisan attention to criminal justice reform.
2) Mike Huckabee: “Why doesn’t this country focus on cures rather than treatment?”
In a surprise rant, Huckabee called out our collective inaction on chronic diseases — which are definitely the biggest threat to our public health.
“The next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s because those are the things that are causing the greatest level of cost.”
He even framed the challenge as an opportunity with a nostalgic American space metaphor, waking up science nerds everywhere.
“John Kennedy said, “we’ll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back,” and we did it. I grew up in the ‘50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven’t had to treat for polio.
Why doesn’t this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don’t we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer’s, a disease alone that will cost us $1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country.”
And he’s totally right. Unfortunately, he stands opposed to Obamacare which spends millions on efforts to prevent cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. Sigh.
3) John Tapper: “Why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way?”
In a debate where climate change was likely to just be ignored, CNN debate moderator Jake Tapper didn’t just mention it, he attempted to frame inaction as a stance against Ronald Reagan himself.
“Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we’re facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking.
Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way?”
Message framing may be needed to build a bipartisan coalition around climate change solutions. But did this work? Felt a little forced.
4) Carly Fiorina: “ My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction.”
Through a stark personal story, Fiorina added gravitas to a policy conversation about addiction.
“We need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience.
We do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It’s clearly not working.”
She mentioned incarceration, but then got her facts a little crossed.
“We are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It’s not.”
The statement is technically true, but in the opposite direction. Alcohol is a much more dangerous drug.
5) Jeb Bush: “The epidemic of heroin.”
Pivoting to solutions, Bush actually carved out a role for government and mentioned prevention in the anti-drug conversation!
“If you look at the problem of drugs in this society today, it’s a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you’re campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that’s taking place.
People’s families are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention — we’re the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance.”
While it’s important to recognize the inequity of ditching individualistic victim-blaming for a #publichealth approach only when white rich people are affected, this debate moment was rare recognition of an environmental solution.
6) Donald Trump: “The lobbyists have very strong power over these people.”
In the performance art that is Donald Trump, his billionaire self-financed campaign has somehow become a poignant stance against the flood of corporate money in politics.
“I will tell you I understand the game, I’ve been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don’t say that favorably, and I’m not sure if there’s another system, but I say this: I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I’m going to do the right thing.”
He says accepting donations makes him immune the special interest groups. Doubt it. And I bet he doesn’t support campaign finance reform.
7) Ben Carson: “Vaccines are very important.”
Ben Carson started out strong by referencing scientific consensus against Trump’s anti-vaccine stance. The moderator even referenced the expertise of the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health.
“Well, let me put it this way, there has — there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling.”
But then Carson began rambling about Big Government and took a dangerous turn by suggesting delaying vaccines as a reasonable middle ground with the anti-vaxxers.
Americans hearing this bad advice from a prominent Doctor on TV was a public health threat itself.
8) Rand Paul: “The Speckled Monster, it’s an amazing story.”
Rand Paul also got it right when he touted vaccines as one of the most significant public health achievements of our century.
“One of the greatest — one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was — were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it’s called The Speckled Monster, it’s an amazing story, it was all done voluntary.
But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn’t let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I’m all for vaccines. But I’m also for freedom”.
As you can tell, he left lots of holes in his solution to accommodate the “freedom” for the individual over the freedom of the herd.
9) Scott Walker: “I’d pick Clara Barton.”
When asked who should appear on the $10 bill, most candidates couldn’t name a prominent female leader. Carly Fiorina called out the tokenizing premise of the question. But Scott Walker made a strange move by choosing a beloved hero of health professionals.
“I’d pick Clara Barton [for the $10 bill]. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross”.
Who knew?
