Fair and balanced measles policy is the latest nonsense from Republicans that should make people worry about the sanity of some politicians.
Amid an outbreak of measles that has spread across 14 states, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey on Monday said that parents “need to have some measure of choice” about vaccinating their children against the virus, breaking with President Obama and much of the medical profession. [New York Times]
IT IS positively shocking that the Republican Party has fallen so far as to be willing to allow an epidemic of measles to reenter the American populace. There is no freedom without public health policy that protects the populace from diseases and viruses, especially those that have already been eradicated through advances in… VACCINES.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul is standing by his statement that most vaccinations should be “voluntary,” telling CNBC that a parent’s choice not to vaccinate a child is “an issue of freedom.” […] “I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines,” he said. [NBC News]
This is so radically dangerous, but it’s also totally and completely wacko.
You’d think Roald Dahl’s story would be enough to awaken people.
Gov. Christie made matters worse for himself by doubling down on the fair and balanced routine. Mr. Christie has gone from torturing pigs to court Iowans, to deciding a measles epidemic is the ticket to get the nomination. For being so utterly stupid he deserves to be seen falling off the chair, a picture I wasn’t going to show and was unleashed because of a mad football fan, but perfectly pictures Christie as the buffoon he’s chosen to play in vaccine politics at this point, which could actually get kids killed.
“The Governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated,” Christie’s office said in a statement. “At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate.” [Washington Post]
Dr. Ben Carson, an extremist right-wing ideologue, weighed in as an intelligent doctor who knows the history of measles and the importance of vaccinations.
“Although I strongly believe in individual rights and the rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit, I also recognize that public health and public safety are extremely important in our society,” Carson said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
Carson said diseases of the past should not be allowed to return because of people avoiding vaccines on religious or philosophical grounds.
“Certain communicable diseases have been largely eradicated by immunization policies in this country and we should not allow those diseases to return by foregoing safe immunization programs, for philosophical, religious, or other reasons when we have the means to eradicate them,” Carson said in the statement.
This entire event is very disturbing.
The media reporting is close to ostracizing these politicians off the main stage, because what they’re suggesting is dangerous to the country they say they want to lead.
Even covering this story is beneath what we should be talking about today.
With politicians like this winning elections in our country, the U.S. will not lead the world, because we cannot even sensibly govern ourselves with this crew.
You know you are in a world of hurt when Dr. Ben Carson is the voice of reason.
Exactly.
It is a little weird how an obsession of upper middle class granola eaters has shifted to a right-wing bug-a-bear. But if anything proves the Rand / Ron Paul five minute rule it is this pandering to the anti-vaxx obsessions of the radical right. It also brings in to focus how modern Reactionary politics has become mindless crankery and infantile selfishness. The entire Republican Party is slowly taking on the personality of a petulant adolescent whining and moaning how they don’t like being bossed around. This is anti-social me-first individualism taken to the “Objectivist” extreme where there is no such… Read more »
One word: AUTHORITARIANISM.
None of these men have any remote relationship to actual conservatism.
I disagree – it’s more authoritarian to require that all children get vaccinated than it is to let parents make their own decision. Paul is taking libertarianism to an extreme and I have no idea what Christie is doing.
In a modern civilized society there are public health imperatives that have been agreed upon for a very long time. Lives are saved through vaccines, so civilized, intelligence people have agreed to adapt public health policy to protect the populace. Libertarianism fails when people like Rand Paul ignore this element to modern life and the advances we’ve made to prolong our lives. That you and others don’t see it is immaterial, because the vast majority of the public understands the life and death nature to agreeing to these advances for our society. Enter the fundamentalist freedom wackos and their authoritarianism.… Read more »
It especially egregious that a Physician would work against Herd Immunity because of some over-the-top ideological hobby-horse. Rand Paul is a menace to the public at large for trotting out this anti-vax nonsense.
I’d be careful about mentioning herd immunity. It didn’t go well when I did.
PBR, it’s the state of play, the idiom, this Herd Immunity. It’s how the professionals talk. Humans are a social animal. And in large groups, like a Nation-State the only dynamic that works is to think of them as a group or a herd. That is the way diseases “see” us, as a pooled resource to use to further their biological aims. You could think of immunization as a defensive wall if that works. A wall that has to be manned by every citizen young or old lest the invading microbes breach the defense. You are required to man that… Read more »
PBR, results matter. What are the results of Ron Paul’s alleged libertarianism. It is an attempt to return to white male privilege. Ignore the cover and look at how his world view works in practice. By devolving power to the lowest possible cohort, it becomes that much easier for one group or even one person to enforce their particular world view on others. Thus in a small county it becomes rather simple for Reactionary White Males to impose their beliefs on the rest of the community. It becomes easier to oppress women and minorities. It becomes easier to impose a… Read more »
Spin, believe me I am very familiar with immunology although I am not an immunologist. And when you say “herd immunity” is how the professionals talk that is true, that’s why I used the term. Maybe I shouldn’t have used it in this setting though as it wasn’t well understood.
“I disagree – it’s more authoritarian to require that all children get vaccinated than it is to let parents make their own decision. Paul is taking libertarianism to an extreme and I have no idea what Christie is doing.”
“I’d be careful about mentioning herd immunity. It didn’t go well when I did.”
MAYbe that is because you didn’t?
Sec, see my comment February 3, 2015 at 1:42 pm
“it’s more authoritarian to require that all children get vaccinated than it is to let parents make their own decision.” Wrong on two counts. First the parents are making their decision of pure unadulterated woo-woo. The risk from vaccinations is near infinitesimal. The benefits are huge. But because a Playboy bunny and whack-a-loon celebrity shoots her mouth off on a subject she has no earthly clue about we now have a resurgence of diseases that were very close to elimination in the USA. Dig into the actual anti-vax messaging and you have enough FUD and misinformation to make even Microsoft… Read more »
I agree completely with your reasoning on vaccines. Where I disagree is calling Paul authoritarian when he is actually the opposite. Here is the Webster definition of authoritarian: 1: of, relating to, or favoring blind submission to authority 2 of, relating to, or favoring a concentration of power in a leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people A politician that demands blind obedience to the government meets the definition of authoritarian. Paul wants to take away power from the government and transfer it to individuals, which is the opposite of authoritarian. I am NOT agreeing with Paul,… Read more »
You are actually positing that relying on science & proof of the efficacy of vaccines is “authoritarian”?
Wow.
A civilized modern society depends on learning what protects people living in close proximity to one another.
Ignoring proven health advances is just one reason strict libertarians are useless & even dangerous to a modern society in 21st century America.
SpinCity’s argument is well conceived & correct.
“You are actually positing that relying on science & proof of the efficacy of vaccines is “authoritarian”?
Wow.”
WOW indeed. The reality based universe need not apply.
“None of these men have any remote relationship to actual conservatism.”
Amen
Is anyone really surprised that the party of stupid, the party of anti evolution creationist imbecility, the party of climate change denial, the party of rather see their own children DIE from AIDS then get accurate sex education would come out with this “both sides” equine fecal matter?
Good analysis Spincity` adding on it is important to remember that the GOP and conservative talk radio has trained all of their” true believers” that the government cannot be trusted and of course considering their immaturity that has translated to all authority figures including medical authority On the left there is high mistrust of big pharma and the capture of their regulators .Considering Christie’s overreaction to Ebola this just shows his soulless hypocrisy. Paul on the other hand has jumped the shark. For a medical doctor to put out such rubbish is beyond the pale. I will not be able… Read more »
…and let’s remember that Republicans, since the debacle of 2010, but especially 2014, now control the vast amount of state political offices.
Democrats allowed this to happen, folks, and Pres. Obama & his people share a lot of the blame for it.
Democrats going amok on the ACA was an unmitigated disaster. There were so many bad actors it is hard to sort out the worst offender. Knee-jerk default goes to Obama. He failed to run herd on Congress and his messaging was bad at best and deliberately false at worst. He really set the tone when he did a back room deal to nix Single Payer. After that every skivvey politician out there was looking for their set aside, their kickback.
While I readily agree President Obama and the Dems have a large share of responsibility…there is the fact and reality of an electorate to lazy or to bored to even get off their asses to vote. There is a part of me deep down in the dark part of my mind quite entertained by watching the masses reap what they have sown.
Once again, the GOP is willing to promote ideology over reason. I agree with Spincity that this is one more repudiation of the Commons, holding tight to the the Thatcherite dictum that there’s no such thing as ‘society,’ therefore no responsibility to the common good/welfare. Because . . . Freedom! As far as I’m concerned Paul Rand has just disqualified himself as a Presidential candidate. Chris Christie for all his flaws and negatives knows better. He’s pandering to the fringe, a sickening performance. Cheers to Ben Carson. Though I detest his politics, he’s proven that there’s a reason he was… Read more »
Carson embraces science right up until a woman has a decision to make about her own body!
True that! But on vaccination Carson stands with Hillary Clinton: Vaccines work.
It’s as SpinCity said above re: Ben Carson. 😉
That’s because women are not real people to Right Wingers. Do we really have to spell this out? 😉
Considering the evidence of signage at teabagger and wingnut rallies do you really thing SPELLING it out would help?
So true Taylor~ I won’t go to the local Dem meetings no new ideas in years and if you suggest one they look at you like you have two heads. No party building going on. Our last slate of candidates that got wiped out were the same old regular blue dogs. I see no sign of anything rolling downhill from McCaskill.
Last time around she had a separate operation, can’t really blame her but someone with some money needs to start doing the work of party building.
Missouri was always doomed. The fundamentalists were bound to take over, something I knew very young. I also saw it when they attacked my big brother years ago during his political rise and very quick fall, because he was a true conservative, including leaving women’s decisions to the woman.
PeggySue~ Having had polio as a kid and receiving the vaccine while in the hospital enabled me to have a normal life. I now have post polio syndrome at 66 years. It is an orphan condition because their are not enough of us to generate research. That is a testimony to the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Wow, LLady, just wow.
Wow, indeed, LL. I received the polio vaccine in grade school. It was only a few years later that my Uncle Merrill was stricken with what they first thought was the flu, then something called ‘the grip,’ and finally diagnosed polio. He was one of the lucky few who escaped [after 14 months] the confines of an iron lung. With 10% remaining lung capacity, he was slowly weaned from the machine then taught to breathe using his diaphragm. But he was greatly debilitated. The whole period left a very strong impression on me. I think because so many of these… Read more »
PeggySue ~ Yes, many of us got the vaccine while in the hospital. We are in the medical books. I was so lucky. I have had life long back problems but nothing like so many who lived in a wheel chair or had to drag around metal leg braces. We went through school with a classmate who came to us through a box on the teachers desk. He was finally able to join us in high school in a wheel chair. Post polio is debilitating, really slows you down and saps strength but I got years of swimming, biking, horse… Read more »
I’m not going to defend Christie or Paul, but vaccines are not a lefty/righty issue despite people trying hard to turn it into one. There are several reasons people don’t get their kids vaccinated – distrust in government, a belief in alternative or holistic medicine, concern about side effects, etc. I have met a few chiropractors who believe they can enhance the immune system without vaccines, pass that belief on to their own patients and of course don’t vaccinate their own kids. Same with some practitioners of holistic medicine, acupuncture, integrative medicine, etc. People that see these kinds of practitioners… Read more »
Excuse me, sir, but Rand Paul AND Chris Christie, both Republicans, are responsible for kickstarting this “debate.”
No one on the left made vaccines debatable! This was a group of Republican 2016 wannabes sucking up to fundamentalist freedom wackos who would put our very societal health at risk.
To say otherwise is disingenuous and patently false.
If you want to criticize Christie and Paul on this issue, I’m with you. But you say:
“IT IS positively shocking that the Republican Party has fallen so far as to be willing to allow an epidemic of measles to reenter the American populace.”
The reasons and the willingness to let measles reenter the populace are bipartisan. Many many liberals and conservatives were willing to take this chance and rely on herd immunity to protect their own kids from imagined effects. It’s been happening for years.
You need to provide specific examples of “many, many liberals” willing to “take this chance” against measles vaccinations. I’m all ears and would be happy to condemn these “many, many liberals,” but you need to give me some names in the Senate, House, running for president, national party leaders, which is the subject here.
As for the rest of your sentence re: “herd immunity,” I have absolutely no idea what the hell you’re talking about.
There are some granola crunching liberals who don’t believe in vaccines but none of them are running for office. So there’s no one equal in stature to the GOP saying this from the left.
Good point Ga6thDem, no one on the left is running on this. I think that even in the very weird precincts of the People’s Republic Of Berkeley or People’s Democracy of Santa Monica you will get push-back for making anti-vax statements.
” Many many liberals and conservatives were willing to take this chance and rely on herd immunity to protect their own kids from imagined effects. ” Which means that they have no clue what “herd immunity” really means. 90% compliance or better with the vaccination program or better is the rubric. That means get your shots and make your kids get shots. Plus far too few understand the misery of a real infection versus the minor pain of a shot. The meme that natural is better and the idiotic practice of sending kid to sleep overs so they get the… Read more »
PBR this did start out as a Granola-Eating, New Age, lefty kind of phenomena. But on the left more sensible people began an immediate push back. People like Amanda Marcotte and P.Z. Myers and the rest of the “reality based community” went on the warpath against the woo-woo. They went out and did the research and spiked the hack physician who provided the bogus autism-innoculaton myth and all the other associated non sequiturs surrounding the anti-vax movement. You can find tons of articles by skeptics who grind the anti-vax movement to a fine powder. Now show me any such push… Read more »
Spin ~ You are such a good writer 🙂
“So he hedged his bet and called for more research. ”
The trouble was there was already enough research and anybody with half a brain could see that. Instead of leading Obama was pandering, as was McCain.
“but vaccines are not a lefty/righty issue despite people trying hard to turn it into one. ”
Some misguided private citizens, some of whom are “left” as opposed to RIGHT WING wannabee PRESIDENTIAL candidates…..oh yeah…that’s the same thing isn’t it?
What many of these so called Libertarians don’t realize is that what their policies will create is a dystopian society ravaged by diseases and all kind of misery even for themselves.
I agree Ga6th, taken to an extreme libertarian principles just won’t work.
I would just like to say that everyone should be vaccinated. I am deeply offended by people that do not vaccinate their children. I understand in some cases for medical reasons, like cancer, vaccination is not possible.