I am one angry and disgusted Floridian this morning. Like the rest of my fellow Floridians who have lived through the press conferences, the closures, the quarantine measures, the food-hand-sanitizer-and toilet-paper-shortages and the believed to be necessary disruption of our families, businesses, and finances, this morning we are put between the proverbial rock and the hard place by the self-serving inconsistent messaging of the State as the Florida primary proceeds. It was my understanding from the vein throbbing, red CORONA PANDEMIC graphic screaming talking heads that we were to ‘social distance’. That this was an unprecedented emergent health situation of the highest order. No work at our work places. No eating at our favorite restaurants. No gathering at our favorite pubs. We were told that it was a matter of life and death, and to be particularly considerate concerning the elderly and infirm among us.
Well, it occurs to me that there are few places with more of the elderly and infirm than the State of Florida. The panic that has ensued has further divided us from one another, and our money. It has preyed on the minds of the weak, given imagined ammunition to hoax thirsty deranged politicos, and left those of us calling for a calm and measured response to a virus whose virulence has not be scientifically determined characterized as ‘deniers’.
Notwithstanding the fact that their histrionics have turned our cities into ghost towns and are turning our economy and the financial security of our citizenry into a shambles, the clarion call has been sounded to gather at the very same public schools determined unsuitable for attendance by a population with a seeming natural immunity to the virus … and vote. It occurs to me that our politicians want it both ways. Both ways being about control, of course.
Apparently, the situation isn’t dire enough for people to gather in large crowds, share voting implements, lean cough and sneeze on voting booth surfaces, touch-screen sign-in-vote-and return to their residential quarantine. This … “inconsistency” … makes it clear to me that either the public safety isn’t a concern when it comes to actions that help them obtain or preserve positions of power and privilege … or that the situation isn’t as serious as they and their draconian measures would have you believe. While I surmise it is the former … and not the latter … the picture of Bill DeBlasio heading into that NYC YMCA right after he told everyone else not to go to the gym gives me … and should give you … pause for thought. Typically, job one for these politico ego-maniacs is self-preservation. You know, like proceeding with the Florida primary.
For my part, I think proceeding with the primary, disenfranchising the seniors you've scared, is just a lot of shit for a State with a self-created toilet paper shortage.