• by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, December 10, 2020

Now that the pandemic has reached into nearly every tiny community in the nation, we are reading about verbal arguments and fistfights over the wearing of masks to reduce the surging spread of COVID-19. In spite of a record number of cases and deaths crushing the resources of nearly every hospital in the country, there are still those who think wearing a mask is somehow a violation of their personal freedom. This of course is a legacy of the Idiot in the White House, who we hope will soon be That Idiot in Prison.

I thought that losing the election by 10 million or so votes would have sent a signal that as a nation we are DONE with anything Trump, yet his followers can’t seem to grasp that mask-wearing is not a political statement, it is a public heath necessity. If they would watch more than Fox and OAN news, they would have seen dozens of testimonials from their fellow Never Mask-ers who caught the virus, suffered terribly and reflect that not wearing a mask was a HUGE mistake. That’s of course from those who didn’t actually die from their illnesses.

In spite of the farcical, unpatriotic post-election behavior of Trump (and the sadly mentally challenged Giuliani), just having Biden around to start discussing foreign and domestic matters like an adult is refreshing and has, at least in my view, starting the badly needed healing process caused by four years of lies, exaggerations, illiteracy and just outright stupidity.

Even though the pandemic continues to rage, the election outcome has nearly (Jan 20 can’t come fast enough) lifted the black cloud that has hung over the nation throughout the Trump administration.  It is time for our nation to put aside its political differences and cheer for the Biden team as they inherit a remarkably shitty economy, stupid foreign policy -- and, of course, the pandemic -- and try as quickly as possible to right our ship of state.

Trump’s base whined loudly to the press that they are misunderstood, and are not in fact racists, misogynists, xenophobes, white-privileged, rednecks.  It is time to prove it.   Start by getting your fellow citizens to understand that wearing a mask protects both themselves (and everyone they daily come into contact with, like their kids and elderly parents) and the rest of the public. Wearing a mask is not a sign of weakness and surrender to the libtards. It is, in fact, an act of patriotism, telling all that you are proud to do your part to contain the virus.

Not wearing a mask does not make you a proudly independent thinker, it instead signals to the rest of the world that you are a self-absorbed asshole who no one will morn when you are laid out on in a freezer truck on your way to an ignominious end.

Those of us old enough to have parents who lived through the Great Depression and World War II have a clear sense of what true sacrifice for your nation can be. If they heard you argue that wearing a mask is a major sacrifice and well, you know, not all that comfortable, they would turn in their graves and moan, “You have no idea what hardship really can be.”

Now that the vaccines are on their way, we can foresee a time when masks will be past history and we can get back to some degree of normalcy in our lives. But until then, do the right thing.

Wear the mask and save lives.