"Successfully clawing our way back from the COVID-19 pandemic can only happen if and when our political leaders understand some risks are worth taking. That we cannot guarantee in advance that a given action won’t have negative consequences doesn’t mean the action is reckless, much less wrong.
From the beginning, discussions about what should be done have had as much, if not more, to do with politics as science. I am not referencing those at either end of the extremes. Instead, this a simple acknowledgment that the level of risk acceptable to most Republican leaders is higher than is the case for most Democrats. We should not allow how matters are viewed by the majority of the mainstream media to dictate what is allowed. Instead, we should do as we have been lectured to do from the start — listen to the experts, follow the science, let the data decide.
When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced his state was ending the requirement to wear masks and that Texas was open for business, the president of the United States described this as Neanderthal thinking. When the results showed it was a safe and sound decision, the critics argued to wait a couple of weeks. Well, we are way past that timeframe, and Texas is doing just fine, thank you.
Meanwhile, blue state leaders have been reluctant to ease mitigation measures. The very same people who insisted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should have its every utterance followed without question now are torturing logic and reason to keep mask mandates in place."
