The saying is often heard in conversations about people who get things right for once in the game and become insufferable.
Never before has the saying been so apt as it is lately.
It has been suspected since the beginning of the pandemic that the reaction to it is inordinate. The death rate has been rather steady since the 1950s. There is no sudden sharp rise in 2019. In fact more people died after the vaccine was available than before, just not many more. The excuse for that is the "delta variant." It is not a very good excuse.
The death rate is not an opinion. It is not an estimate derived from statistical analysis. It is a direct count. A direct count can have errors, but not large errors. Because there can be small errors some people compare the direct count to estimates based on statistical analysis. No matter, it remains clear that the "pandemic" was a panic caused by varying the interpretation of the cause of death in cases of comorbidity to create the illusion of scientific success.
One "justification" for such arbitrary behavior is that by giving simple folk a high level of confidence in science, they would be more likely to seek professional medical services generally and thus be helped should they really need help. There was perhaps an assumption that no harm was done if they do not need help.
I have written for years before the pandemic that blind faith can be a good thing. People who simply do what they are told by some "authority" can be very efficient, saving much time, effort and resources of trying bad ideas over and over.
I did not however have anything to do with the pandemic which has proved that blind faith without good leadership can be a very harmful thing. Blind faith in science is not science and no substitute for science.
In fact, since the beginning of the pandemic I have noted the specific flaws in the "science" every step of the way.
The lesson has been learned and blind faith in science will now have to be recognized for the harm it was.
This is where the broken clock becomes a problem. Some Republicans are excited that their scoffing at science will now be vindicated. However science is not the problem, only blind faith in science is the problem.
Some Republicans will think Donald Trump must be some kind of genius.
Now, how to tell the truth about the "pandemic" without securing another election of Donald Trump in 2024? How to prevent people from following a broken clock?
Some of them took pride in their own blind faith in whatever it is they have blind faith in, and they are thus not seeing how they are just as much or more trouble as Democrats. It is difficult to say what that might have to do with the election of Glenn Youngkin.
They are not aware that Trump's massive tax cuts created a false sense of better times by skyrocketing the national debt as much or more than Obama increased the debt. The national debt is another direct count, not an opinion, not an estimate based on statistical analysis. Whose fault it is might be debated.
They are not aware that a tariff is a bad idea that could not solve the real problem with China, which is their currency is not inflated and ours is.
Some of them seem to think Trump did accomplish something in appointing Supreme Court Justices who might allow more restrictive abortion laws. However the problem with abortion has not been what the law is, but what law can be enforced. Even in this age of ubiquitous cell phones, people can be very private about their wombs. Many Republicans are too young to remember when birth control pills first became widely available. Was I not supposed to let that "secret" out? What sorts of things can and cannot be kept secret? With safe and effective birth control pills who would ever need an abortion? Some victims of rape obviously could. Changing abortion laws would not be the great accomplishment they seem to believe it is. When people believe they have accomplished great things who have not, that can result in inflation.
More bizarre about that is the Republicans' argument against vaccine mandates is the same argument from "rights" as "my body, my choice" used by others against abortion laws rather than the Republicans using a scientific examination of death rates, comorbidity and a better analysis of those against mandates. It should be hoped that the broken clock is discarded. New leadership in the Republican Party can and should be forthcoming. Else there is leaving blind faith in science in charge and that has really been a disaster upon a disaster.
Much of the bad, misanthropic behavior of the Republicans can be attributed to the Democrats. As fond of science as Democrats might be, they are for the most part no better at science than Trump Republicans are at religion. It is nothing new. Democratic Party concepts of science have been wrong for decades. Although there is not and should not be any voting in science, large numbers of Democrats with no abilities in science nevertheless decide to impose their malformed notions of science on innocent people. That is why government after government is failing risk management now.
Limiting Biden to one term should be no more difficult than limiting Trump to one term was. It would of course significantly improve the chances of Republicans if they refrained from their blind allegiance to one man. More than one person in their party should have the wisdom and skill to advance their ideals. No doubt many people in both parties have noticed Virginia's new governor, Glenn Youngkin. Like Trump in that he had no experience as a politician before being elected, there is that hope that Youngkin could at last demonstrate some beneficial political leadership where Trump was obviously not very effective at all.
Although in these unsettled times Youngkin might become president, he still needs to learn to fight the bad science of the Democrats with good science, not with the bad religion of Trump Republicans. Else he can be no more effective than Trump was. If, as suspected, more people are finally aware of the problem that currently infests both parties, Youngkin might not even get nominated for president.
My own choice for Republican nominee for president in 2016 was Hike Huckabee, not Trump. My own choice for Republican nominee for governor of Virginia in 2021 was Pete Snyder, not Glenn Youngkin. My own choice for Republican nominee for president in 2024, at this rather early stage at least, is Ted Cruz, not Donald Trump. What sort of leader/representative Youngkin could make remains to be seen. Give him a fair chance as governor. Other choices for Republican nominee for president might become obvious later.
Of the several reasons to avoid Trump; that he accomplished nothing beyond skyrocketing the debt, that he failed to restrain violence in his name, and so on, the most stunning one is his dependence on vote counts. It is more important to have confidence in your own sound arguments than any come-what-may vote count. Parents have often asked their children, "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you?" When clearly inexpedient policies win vote counts (when the majority is "wrong"), many people are able to endure quite much before resorting to disobedience. With the extremely invasive vaccine mandates at least there are still other places to go that do not have them. Trump's attitude in itself is a crippled dependence on brute force. It is a desire to wield political power born of a failure to wield reason. Does it not happen though that groups form in society who cannot see reason, no matter how well presented to them? Yes, that happens and that is how wars start. However, the United States has shown more civility in the past than the bad science of the current Democratic Party and the bad religion of the current Republican Party. In the well educated United States it should be possible to address bad science with good science and bad religion with good religion, no hell hounds necessary.
Is it possible that the medical "experts" on television could actually be as stupid as their claims? No, there is not much chance they really are that stupid. Rather it is likely that aforementioned attempt to encourage simple folk to trust the hospitals more, or perhaps contrarily to awaken simple folk to their need to take more personal responsibility for their medical decisions.
At the moment there is especially the point of this article, that it is important to avoid putting ourselves under the direction of broken clocks. The "emergency" might abate soon after the Republicans show more civic, scientific, and moral responsibility.
The issue in Kitzmiller v. Dover is indeed science, not religion. But there is no scientific explanation for the origin of life, and the public education system should stop pretending there is. It should open the discussion. The "science" currently in use is less disciplined than most Republicans of whatever faith. Since Jesus had no damage to his brain, heart or lungs (by most interpretations of the scriptures) it makes more scientific sense that he was just in a "coma" (there was no word for a coma in those days) than to believe life began when lightning struck mud. How ironic is it then that some people are afraid of the lack of discipline in "religion"?
Other issues in society are better solved by religion. Government typically fails to address marriage problems well. Marriages are less stable since government took over with "no fault" divorces, and nevertheless attempting to set financial and other choices however from afar. Government typically fails to restrain abortion (more than birth control pills already have), whatever laws it passes.
This gives new meaning to the expression, "Let's go, Brandon!"