I remember when Americans used to do their part. Everyone pitched in. We were proud to do our share to protect and help each other, especially when it involved a fight against a common enemy.

Our parents’ and grandparents’ generation, the World War II generation – The Greatest Generation – did their part. Food and gasoline were rationed. People turned off their lights at night and put up blackout shades. They collected scrap metals. Women went to work in factories. Men went to war. They didn’t complain about the government telling them what to do. They were proud to join in the fight.

But right now, as we’re locked in a battle against a deadly pandemic that has killed some 620,000 Americans – 200,000 more Americans in a year and a half than were killed in the four years of WWII – many Americans have stubbornly, repeatedly, and senselessly refused to do their share to protect the rest of us and stop the virus from spreading. Why? Because that’s what their so-called leaders and representatives are encouraging them to do. I want to go to Washington to change that. Can you chip in $10 today to help me do it?

The radical right has said the dangers of the Covid virus are a hoax or have been exaggerated. They have maligned the recommendations of public health experts to wear masks and avoid public gatherings to reduce community spread. They have spread misinformation about the vaccine. As a result, many people have refused to get vaccinated or take steps to reduce the pandemic’s spread.

What’s the result? States and regions represented by people like Andy Harris are leading the way in the explosion of new infections from the Delta variant and in the rising number of hospitalizations and deaths. Their behavior has prolonged the pandemic and brought back restrictions we thought were in the past.

I’m mad, and you should be, too. This pandemic should be over. We should be back to normal, or pretty close. But instead, we’re still stuck in a race with the pandemic, and as each new variant becomes more contagious and chips away at the effectiveness of the vaccine, more of us who have done our part are at greater risk.

And it's the fault of politicians like Andy Harris and Majorie Taylor-Greene for cynically spreading lies and misinformation in the hopes of political gain and for politicizing what should have been a come-together moment – a national battle against a public health emergency. I hope we can turn this around. I hope more Americans will get vaccinated. I hope local and public health officials will do what they can to reduce opportunities for the virus to spread. I hope people will listen to public health officials.

I hope more Americans will understand that doing their part to help win this war on Covid and save the lives of their fellow Americans isn’t government overreach, it’s patriotism.

I believe that’s what most Americans believe, too, and that’s what most Americans will do – join in the fight and be part of the solution.

But I know one group who won’t: Politicians like Andy Harris. So join me in the fight by chipping in $20 to my campaign today so that we can make a difference in Congress by saving lives and defeating this pandemic.

-- Dave