Two Americas Revisited
September 13, 2021
In my post from May 1, 2021, I mentioned that during his 2004 presidential campaign, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) struck a chord with Democrat voters when he delivered what became known as the “Two Americas” speech. His two Americas concept was just another way of saying that America is divided into two classes, the exploiters and the exploited. This has been a Democrat trope as far back as I can remember.
I don’t buy the two Americas notion as it pertains to economics and upward mobility in this country. However, over the weekend it occurred to me that we actually do have two Americas when it comes to COVID-19. The resulting divisions are not good.
First America is made up of people who are deathly afraid of COVID-19 and have changed their lives dramatically to protect themselves from what they perceive to be an imminent threat to their health and well-being. These folks tend to rely almost exclusively upon the proclamations of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Centers for Disease Control, and others who believe COVID-19 should be the central focus of everything we do.
Second America is made up of people who have concluded that we cannot stop living life even though COVID-19 is “a thing.” Second Americans are suspicious of “conventional wisdom,” because the purveyors of conventional wisdom have not been all that wise. In many cases, they have not even been honest.
The people living in First America wear a mask in public and believe that others should do the same. They believe everyone must be vaccinated, and that those who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccination are either hopelessly stupid or political zealots that would rather die than conform to “the science.” They are willing to pay an enormous economic and emotional price to fight the pandemic on all fronts.
The people living in Second America have a slightly more nuanced view of the dangers presented by COVID-19. Second America types acknowledge that COVID-19 presents a very high risk to obese and old people, as well as people with certain pre-existing medical conditions. However, most everyone else is at minimal risk, and should probably live life normally so we don’t crash our economy and destroy the psychological health of our nation.
This weekend I was given a reminder of the two Americas COVID-19 phenomenon. College and professional football stadiums all over this country were jam-packed with maskless, non-socially distanced people. Second Americans took to the grid iron with reckless abandon. Dr. Fauci would not approve.
At the supermarket and other places around this country, First Americans wore masks to the grocery store, avoided unnecessary contact with people outside the nuclear family, and took to social media to vent about the unvaccinated Neanderthals.
Make no mistake: these folks don’t like each other. First Americans look at Second Americans as unsophisticated cockwombles that don’t care about their fellow man. Second Americans look at First Americans as pantywaists that are afraid of their own shadow and are willing to absorb economic and psychological ruin in exchange for some elusive claim to protection from COVID-19.
The President did not make things better when he told about 30% of the population that they must undergo an invasive medical procedure, or they may lose their livelihood.
Where does all this end up? I have no idea, but it’s not good.