The challenge of disagreeing on issues when we cannot agree on facts.
Readers of these essays will know that, as a new administration has made significant changes to the country, I have tried to be open to the spirit of accepting new ideas about the reorganization/rethinking of what should be, mindful that the actions we are seeing reflect the wishes of millions of Americans who chose this course with open eyes in the last election. Our criticisms, then, of the changes we are seeing should not be knee-jerk, but, rather, considered and thoughtful, reflecting an awareness of the complex cultural and political forces driving this moment. However, I did want to comment on this week’s announcements about layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other health agencies. I have written before about the underfunding of public health, and how it contributed to the disaster of COVID, among many other diseases. This new disinvestment in health agencies is clearly going to make this worse. Leaving aside — but acknowledging — the cruelty of these moves happening quickly and unexpectedly, the threat that they pose to the country’s health cannot be underestimated. I worry, as do many others, that this is setting us on a path to perdition, to an escalation of public health challenges that are going to manifest in the years to come. And that is a worrisome thought indeed.
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