Libertarians and the politics outrage: Fauci’s “inhumanity”
Donald Boudreaux says this [quote begins here]:
Fauci – further revealing his inhumanity – actually said this:
[L]et’s take the holiday setting. You’re with your family. You have grandparents and parents and children. When you get vaccinated and you have a vaccinated group and you are in an indoor setting, you can enjoy, as we have traditionally over the years, dinners and gatherings within the home with people who are vaccinated.
And that’s the reason why people should, if they invite people over their home, essentially ask and maybe require that people show evidence that they are vaccinated, or give their honest and good faith word that they have been vaccinated.
[End Boudreaux quote.]
If you are having a family gathering, especially one that includes grandparents or others who may be vulnerable to Covid-19 despite being vaccinated, what on earth is wrong with asking people about their vaccination status? Sure, asking people to show proof of vaccination seems a bit over the top (although it might make sense if you’re having a large gathering and you know some friends or relatives are strongly anti-vaccine). But does this quote really show Fauci’s “inhumanity”? Really? Really?
Libertarians keep the moral outrage dialed up to 11 because their views are unpopular and they know they cannot win a calm, reasoned argument.
Talking about “inhumanity,” I know of many people who simply won’t be visiting family or attending social events, simply because there might be at least one infected person there who openly refuses vaccination, or worse, who lies about having been vaccinated. With a third of Americans covid or vaccine skeptical, this effectively rules out almost all larger social or family gatherings for the other two thirds.
And now here comes omicron, much more transmissible, potentially slamming the door again on restaurants or in-person shopping even for the doubly vaxxed, and just in time for Christmas. Ho Ho Ho.
Since vaccinated people can catch the virus and transmit the virus, I don’t get why you should bother asking if your guests are vaccinated or not. We are not going to achieve herd immunity through vaccination. The reason everyone needs to get vaccinated is that when you catch you chance of dying or even suffering servere symptoms is much reduced. What we need to end the pandemic is universal free rapid testing. Jen Psaki smirks and asks, “Should we give free tests to everybody?” Yes! We should. Advanced countries do. I realize America is descending into banana republic status, but we are still rich enough to send free tests to anybody who requests them. The UK provides seven free tests a day to anybody who asks for them. That’s every day! Colorado provides free tests to every resident in the state, although it takes a few days for them to arrive. 80% of people who catch Covid-19 experience either mild or no symptoms, so they spread the virus unwittingly. Remember, even if you’re vaccinated, even if you’ve already had Covid-19, you can catch it again, and if you don’t know you’re infected you will spread it, although wearing a mask helps a lot.
I agree on the need for free testing, I’ve posted on it several times. FWIW, this article explains how the Biden administration arrived at it’s reimbursement policy. Governing well in this country is very difficult in the current political environment and institutional structure.
Vaccination does appear to reduce infection and transmission somewhat, which means it lowers prevalence, all things equal. The fact that it’s not perfect doesn’t mean it does nothing. If your elderly relatives are coming over, the chance that they get a breakthrough infection is lower if other guests are vaccinated.
The libertarian project is about privatizing everything except national defense. What the Fauci quote advocates is privatizing the exchange of vaccine information, which sits squarely in the libertarian philosophy. For Boudreaux to find this objectionable underscores why he is a fake libertarian. He’s a bog ordinary right-winger.
If, as Boudreaux has it, “this is how you turn a society against itself and families members against one another,” then libertarianism is about turning a society against itself. Which, come to think of it, is what ‘governments are instituted among men’ to avoid. Libertarianism is the apotheosis of solipsism.
There is nothing wrong or anti-libertarian about my home=my rules. Libertarians used to say except where harm to others is involved. True libertarians may still, but the right-wingers claiming Libertarian credentials always seem to endorse positions that will cause harm to society and the people at large. The entire “conservative” movement is not conservative at all.
All too true.
It’s rich for a libertarian to call out someone else for inhumanity. The first principle of libertarianism is ” I’ve got mine now so f@#k off.”
I went to a wedding last month that required guests to provide vax cards a month before the wedding. It was right on the invitation.
Donald Boudreaux is more Duck Dynasty than ivy league, which actually may be the best thing about him.
At least he was listening to Fauci, which is more than most are doing at this time.