In mid 2020 the leadership of the Democratic Party, my party, decided that if they ran on Universal Health Care, in a nation wide state by state general election, then they would lose.
The nations with Universal Health Care have about 5 years greater life expectancy, only about 1/2 the infant mortality, and the costs are only about 1/2 of what we pay.
They also do a better job of managing the big three chronic conditions, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, and so there are less premature deaths.
But Universal Health Care would cover the people of all income levels and races. These remain the two central issues in US politics.
So in the wake of Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy, getting white southerners to vote for Republicans, a move actually started by Strom Thurmond after his failed 1948 State's Rights Party (neo-Confederate / KKK) bid for the Presidency, the Democratic Leaders decided that they must not campaign on Universal Health Care.
It used to be that the CA primary was at the end. Then southerners wanted more influence, so they moved theirs up. So this time the CA primary was ahead of their, Super Tuesday.
So Bernie Sanders won the CA Democratic Primary. And this put him in the same position Robert Kennedy had been in. So now having a chance of winning the Presidency, this is when people started bringing Nazi stuff to his rallies. I began to fear for his life.
So which way was the party going to go?
Not many blacks in Vermont. Would they come out to vote for him? His message may not have resonated with them.
South Carolina does not have White Democrats any more.
Finally, before Southern Super Tuesday, Congressman Jim Clyburn, representing a district which includes Columbia, gave a 2 hour speech, basically saying that with Sanders we lose, but with Biden we could win, and the stakes could not have been higher. He many have been right.
The most central pillar of the Sanders Campaign was Universal Health Care, whereas Biden always said that we don't need it. And James Carville was saying, "No body wants a revolution."
So to take Universal Health Care off of the table, the Democratic Leadership promoted a lie, that being that the COVID virus kills people.
So where as Santa Clara County seemed poised to lift the precautions on Monday May 4th, 2020, instead they shifted the intent from slowing the virus down, to trying to make people believe that they were being protected from a serious danger, and that the precautions were making them safe. It was like they were trying to contain a chronic condition, which COVID is not.
These precautions would go on for another year, as we were being scolded by Gavin and Sara Cody in their press conferences, for not strictly following the precautions and because there were still new cases.
We did not seem to have anyone on a ventilator for COVID since June 2020. We have 730 ventilators and we always have about 100 persons on them, but not for COVID. I suspect that more use of immunosuppressants are part of this, but it also may be the development of herd immunity and the lighter initial exposure doses.
COVID has been a campaign of psychological warfare, promoting superstitious irrational fear and prejudice. The instigators should be serving prison sentences.
AOC has never talked about COVID they way that Andrew Cuomo or Gavin Newsom have. She and the progressive sector always made it clear that the problem is lack of health care access.
Beyond that, there has to be at least a 1% mortality rate, otherwise the median life expectancy would be over 100 years. COVID has not added to our mortality.
Good to Finally be Back! SJG

