Guess which story hogged the headlines at the top of the Times’ website this morning? The Centers for Disease Control. For the second day running! Times readers probably think the Atlanta-based agency is the only agency being downsized. Out of three top CDC stories, I selected the one headlined, “Inside the C.D.C., a Growing Sense of Despair.”
The bizarre yard sign above, which topped the Times’ story, perfectly captures progressives’ relationship with government, especially the most intrusive and personally involved parts. They just love it. They can’t get enough. They’re terrified it might shrink some.
They are in love with governance in ways that are difficult for conservatives to understand.
On an aside, the words “stay strong” also reveal much. Those two syllables represent resistance, explaining how CDC represents not just a public health agency but a political pushback, an anti-conservative movement. Rationally speaking, resistance fully explains why the rogue agency needs reorganization. But there is nothing rational about liberals’ love for this particular agency— when hundreds of others are also getting just as much Trumpian HR attention.
Nor are CDC employees reacting rationally, like normal staff facing downsizing. “We’re scared for ourselves and for the country,” a terrified staffer told the Times. At a small group meeting yesterday morning, two people broke down into sobbing. A “senior leader” who has “always stayed calm” under pressure was “visibly shaking.” Several groups of employees discussed possibly striking (however, strikes by federal workers are felonies punishable by a permanent ban from federal service).
I hate to seem unsympathetic, but most Americans outside federal agencies have often faced the unpleasant task of polishing up their resumes and applying for new jobs. It’s not much fun, but it’s not the end of the world, either. You’d think these “scientists” and “health experts” would do just fine. There’s a whole big pharma industry just waiting to warmly embrace them.
Plus, there’s always podcasting. Just saying.
CDC staff are experiencing over-the-top conniptions and emotional breakdowns because it’s not just about the job. It’s about the politics. That, and a bottomless well of self-importance and savior complexes. Yesterday afternoon, hundreds of CDC employees gathered outside the agency, cheering and clapping for the three officials who rage-quit yesterday following Director Susan Monarez’s abrupt termination.
My first thought when I glanced at the ironic headline trumpeting the “growing sense of despair” at the CDC was how well it paralleled Americans’ growing sense of despair during the pandemic, a sense of despair that deepened every single time the CDC issued its next politically motivated health decree or mandate.
In a rare flash of self-awareness, another one of yesterday’s trio of articles concluded by unintentionally summarizing the CDC’s problem with politics:
Following that eye-popping paragraph, the Times wrapped the article by quoting Catholic University law professor Joel Alicea, who explained, “By making executive officials removable at will by the president, the Constitution ensures political accountability for them to the American people.”
See? They know what’s really causing all this. Accountability. But they don’t want to engage with those real arguments, preferring instead to battle slogans and strawmen with buzzwords like “authoritarianism” and “no kings.” And ironically, everything the Times reported in its three articles about Democrats’ and CDC employees’ response merely reinforced how politicized the massive health bureaucracy has become, even while Americans’ health has steadily worsened.
“There’s a lot of trouble at C.D.C.,” Secretary Kennedy said, “and it’s going to require getting rid of some people over the long term in order for us to change the institutional culture.” Hopefully. And he echoed the same point: “Anybody who lived through Covid saw all these bizarre recommendations that were not science-based, all the misinformation.”
Late yesterday, Kennedy appointed his deputy, Jim O’Neill, a former biotechnology executive, as the C.D.C.’s acting director.
I’ll leave it to you to speculate over why progressives are so deeply devoted to this failing “public health” agency.
In related news, after Secretary Kennedy ended the jabs’ EUAs yesterday, CVS canceled covid vaccine appointments in 16 states (including Florida, New York, and DC). Those are states where pharmacies may not legally give unscheduled vaccines without a prescription.
So, for readers who measure progress in purging covid shots, see? It’s happening. Patience. Let the man work.
Useful Idiots plenty of Useful Idiots