earthfamilyalpha: De-Evolution

As we enter the fourth of July holiday weekend, there is a lot to be thankful for. Several weeks ago, we went to a vaccinated only fund raiser in a semi outdoor space. There we visited and actually touched well over a hundred friends and political allies for the first time in 15 months. Later that evening, we decided to actually go to a restaurant, our first inside eating experience since March 2020.

Here in the blue haven of Austin, the health authorities recently announced that we are 4,000 vaccinations from a minimum herd immunity threshold. Masks have disappeared almost as fast as they appeared. The National seven day average of Covid deaths is down to 234; 20 times less than it was during our winter peak. That's about the same amount of deaths we get from our cars and our guns.

But as we approach the 70% vaccination goal that Biden wanted to achieve by the Holiday, there are many states and communities that are still well below 50%. Only 20 states will meet the President's goal.

Vermont, Massachusetts and Hawaii have partially or fully vaccinated more than 80% of their adults, while Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have all partially or fully inoculated more than 75%.

New Hampshire, New Mexico, Maryland, Washington, Illinois, New York, Virginia, Minnesota, Delaware and California have all at least partially immunized 70% of their adults. Washington, D.C. has also passed the 70% threshold. Colorado and Oregon are very close to hitting the benchmark.

Mississippi has partially or fully vaccinated the least amount of adults of any state in the country—45.9%—while Louisiana and Wyoming have also at least partially vaccinated less than 50% of their adults.

66%.

That’s the percentage of American adults who have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Over half—57%—of American adults are fully vaccinated. At the current pace, 68% of American adults will be partially vaccinated by July 4, according to the New York Times. (Forbes)

See a pattern?

So are R's so lost in the drivel of the former guy that they can't take care of themselves or their children or their communities?

Apparently so.

And folks who can't or won't take care of themselves certainly cannot be trusted to take care of others.

Thankfully, R's are only about 25% of the population. And if 70 % of them believe that the election was stolen, then we've got 17.5% of our population that not only can't take care of themselves, they can't tell the truth from a hole in the ground.

But most importantly, they have evolved to become the party of de-evolution. The money-makers in the party are as openly racist now as the segregationist were sixty years ago. The R's have embraced the politics of the worst of our human condition. They inflame our lower centers with fear, hate, and lies.

As the old joke goes, they pray on Sunday morning and then prey on everyone and everything else the rest of the week.

When the R's are led by a leader who knows that the politics of hate and fear are a dead end for us all, these de-evolutionary forces can be managed. But when they are freed from the bonds of their better angels by a ruthless psychopath, the results have the potential to bring Jan 6 again and again.

As the Northwest bakes under a heat dome giving them Death Valley like days, and a high rise Florida Condo collapses from salt water intrusion, and our electric grid fails in both winter and summer, you would think that rushing down to the border to do a photo-op with a one term loser would be the last thing on a Governor's mind.

But It's Not.