Rojo Must Go

Senator Johnson Care More about Freedom than Life

It has got to be hard when facts and proven scientific evidence come into conflict with one’s ideological or political beliefs. A rational person would examine that conflict and try to adjust the beliefs to come into some degree of harmony with the facts and supporting evidence. It must be even harder when one’s political and ideological beliefs lead to the suffering, illness and death of your fellow human beings. 

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson’s recent public comments questioning the need to vaccinate the population against COVID-19 and the effectiveness of wearing masks show that Johnson has made his choice. For him, ideology and political expedience win out over facts supported by the scientific evidence. Unfortunately for some of his followers and others who choose to believe what he says, Johnson’s words will lead to unnecessary suffering and maybe even their death.

Johnson is reaching the end of his current term in the United States Senate. Even though he promised to only serve two terms when first he ran, he has not told us if he plans to run for a third term or not. He has, however, openly embraced the former resident of the White House, supported false claims of fraud in the last national election, questioned whether it was really supporters of the former president who stormed the Capitol on January 6th and ventured into support for other conspiracy theories. It is not surprising then to hear him openly contradict nationally recognized experts on getting COVID vaccines into as many arms as possible and the need for wearing masks to reduce the virus spread.

It is high time that Johnson declares his intentions for the upcoming election. Three Democrats have already announced their bids to replace him. The first in the ring was Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson. Nelson has run before and has a slew of endorsements. Next, Alex Lasry, Vice President of the Milwaukee Bucks organization, threw his hat in the ring and announced endorsements from prominent Milwaukee political figures. The third candidate to enter the race was Sarah Godlewski, the newly elected Wisconsin State Treasurer, who has been preparing to run against Johnson on social media for the past year. Other Democrats will probably come in as soon as Johnson announces whether he will run again or not. 

Conservative Republicans, used to mounting primary challenges from the right, don’t know what to do. It is hard to get further to the right than Johnson is already. The former president has already endorsed him for a third term which prevents other ultra conservatives from entering the race. More moderate Republicans have not figured out a message that will resonate with enough GOP voters to win a statewide race and do not want to sign up until Johnson declares what he plans to do. 

Without a viable GOP replacement, Johnson owns the bully pulpit on the right and will unfortunately end up hurting a lot of people. We can only hope that the new national leadership will continue to let the scientists carry the load of convincing more to get their shots, practice social distancing and continue to wear masks around the unvaccinated. 

Another front is opening as well. The University of Maryland recently announced that no one will be allowed on campus next fall unless they have been vaccinated against COVID – 19. Even with Johnson openly opposing vaccination requirements or vaccination passports, the European Union is opening up visits from U.S. citizens if they have been fully vaccinated. Airlines are beginning to enforce mask wearing on flights and banning those who refuse. Socially responsible businesses are also beginning to step up with mask requirements as well. App developers are already marketing vaccination passports for your phones.

It is sad that Sen. Johnson refuses to follow the science and has lost his compassion for the health of his constituents while following the banner of false personal freedom. To see him wallow in false choices brings fears that he will follow Fox’s Tucker Carlson who now exhorts his viewers to confront masked people and asks them to call the police to report child abuse when they see kids in masks. 

We are all in this together and the sooner our elected officials take on that world view, the sooner we can get back to some semblance of normalcy.