Lebensunwertes Leben: The Call of the Right Wing

Life Unworthy of Life was a slogan used by the Nazi regime to identify those who them deemed not suited to live and use up resources in the new society they were building.  Far more sinister than even the Untermensch appellation which deemed some as subhuman, it did not even see those they classified ad Lebensunwertes Leben as useful as slaves to their war machine.  In what may be the most evil propaganda efforts in history, the German government convinced many people to kill or have killed loved ones who were mentally ill, had debilitating diseases or just were considered inferior.  There is even a film made of a great pianist who is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis who commits suicide for the good of the state.  Later the killings became compulsory and as the country became more comfortable with death for the greater good of the country we see the Shoah (Holocaust) as the last step.  It started with the idea that some people need to be sacrificed in order for the state to survive and thrive.  

This bone-chilling idea took hold in the modern country of Germany in the middle of the 20th century because it made sense to many who felt they were betrayed by previous government actions after World War I and the notion that outside forces were driving Germany into a perpetual depression and using its systems to support people who were not adding to greatness of the nation.  Terms like useless eaters were used to describe large numbers of human beings.  Sometimes this notion even stretched to include people who were elderly and frail.  People who could no longer work or fight for the country.  Germany created a vision that made some people should not be saved, and in fact should be gotten rid of to allow the country to grow.  

That idea seems to have returned in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Not in Germany, not in a developing nation, but right here in the United States.  Several members of the political right have stated publicly either through their own media outlets or through social media that they think the elderly and by extension anyone with a condition that could be exacerbated by the virus should be willing to die to protect the economy.  Dan Patrick, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas said that he and those in his age bracket would be willing to die to avoid passing on debt to their grandchildren.  I have heard others say such things.  I haven't seen the polling data but everyone I know over 65 is willing to stay at home and not risk death because.......they love their grandchildren and want to spend as much time with them as they can.  

Ben Shapiro, a person who voices a lot of the right wing talking points in smug podcasts and through fringe media said this:  "If somebody who is 81 dies of COVID-19, that is not the same thing as somebody who is 30 dying of COVID-19...If grandma dies in a nursing home at age 81, that's tragic and it's terrible, also the life expectancy in the United States is 80".  For Ben it appears that it fine for an 81 year old to die of this terrible and painful disease for a chance to go out to eat or get a haircut.  They say it is to keep the economy intact and I already pointed out the hypocrisy of this position while maintaining women shouldn't be allow to get abortions to protect their economic security.  But this hypocrisy goes even further.  When the ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare, had a provision for end of life therapy being covered the right wing noise machine and their noise makers in Congress called these death panels.  Ben was always on right wing shows saying it was an attempt to ration care for the elderly and the infirm and called it evil.  Now they say things like an 81 year old should be thankful for the years, one more than expected, and should just leave the stage. 

Then there is Jacob Wohl, a young man who is going to prison for securities fraud and who has paid people to lie about affairs with many people including Dr. Fauci was talking about the Corona virus death toll being about 1 percent.  "So what if we lose 400,000 people?  That 200,000 elderly and the other 200,000 are the bottom of society.  You have to clean out the barn. If it's real it is a good thing, for God's sake."  This is the spirit of Lebensunwertes Leben.  The Nazi idea that some must be killed for greater good of the nation.  He says it is a good thing that 400,000 people die.  

 If only they were the only voices, but more and more we hear it on radio, the internet and on at least one major television news station.  People are dying because of the incompetence of the President, and now voices are saying that is it a good thing that they are.  Covid-19 will kill people, lots of them.  Staying home and physical distancing will lower the number of deaths because we won't overwhelm the healthcare system.  We will buy time to find a real treatment and save lives.  We will eventually get to a time when it can be dealt with by treatment and/or vaccine.  But until then we shouldn't have to choose to kill people because someone can't get their hair colored or a massage or enough beef.  That is not just nonsense, it is a call we have heard before, it creates the idea that some human beings are not worthy to fight for them to live.  That is not a direction as a culture we should feel comfortable going.  That is not something we should give voice.  

 

Impeach Roberts?

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts voted in the majority with 4 other members of the court to uphold the Affordable Care Act, now Public Law, as Constitutional.  Roberts, who was seen as the anchor to a future conservative court, sided with the so-called liberal justices in the majority though not following their entire ruling.  Writing for the majority he weaved a brilliant and scary argument that the commerce clause does not apply but the individual mandate, the cornerstone of the law, is constitutional as the fine for not having insurance is within the power of Congress to tax.  This has made him the enemy of the right wing noise machine, up to and including someone questioning if he is addle-minded by his medication for epilepsy. Seriously, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America is being questioned as crazy because of epilepsy, why?  Because he voted in favor of something the President of the United States Barack Obama wanted.  This is where we are America.  Make a reasoned legal argument that the right wing nuts don't like and you are going to be called crazy or worse.

In fact, there is a loud sound of the zombies that cling to radio hosts and Fox News to move for impeachment of him, saying that he made up the taxing power.  First, wow, the world is full of Constitutional scholars, second, well hmmmm what can I say?  He saw the law differently, I honestly don't like his reasoning but like the outcome, but he simply saw the law differently from the anonymous punks who hide behind keyboards and cheer on wingnuts who call Roberts a traitor.  It is unworthy of this country and unworthy of any debate.

But you see the GOP leadership is out there encouraging this kind of hyperbole.  Rep. Mike Pence and GOP nominee for Governor of the State of Indiana liken this ruling to 9-11.  Are you freaking kidding me?  Others have lied about it being the largest tax hike in history.  (Secret, you can avoid the fee/tax by simply getting insurance so that you are covered when something goes wrong, also it isn't even the largest tax hike in Noah's lifetime).  Others talk about a new Medicare tax provision that with tax at 3.8% anyone whose income is over $250,000 and sells a house with a net profit over $250,000 and any profit over that mark.  Which means, if you earn over $250,000 on your tax return and sell a house and a huge profit you will pay $.038 on every dollar of profit over a quarter of a million dollars. Of course there will be ads suggesting this applies to every home sale.  But what are facts in an election?

You see there is a real effort to attack Roberts because he didn't follow a party line.  Even other justices on the more conservative wing of the court have apparently leaked information from inside the court isolating Roberts.  How worthy of the court.

This makes me sick.  Any elected official who continues to use hyperbole and stupidity to gin up the masses should be attacked without mercy.  This is bad for the country and bad for any hope at all.  Pence is not alone he is just closest to home.  As we get closer to the elections I will certainly keep reminding people.  I hope that the electorate will take this silliness into account.