# Will the US right ever accept mandatory public health directives again? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 13, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629 "2021-08-13T21:31:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/1 "2021-08-13T21:31:02Z")
They had to at some point in the past or else a lot of us would not even be here. But they are all in on whatever they think they’re at now. How can they change from their current position? You could say “If there are a million deaths they can’t look away” but there have been 600,000. It’s a pretty arbitrary viewpoint. They wont take responsibility for any aspect and change the goalpost every day to troll lefties and innoculate and “cleanse” themselves by going further down the hole. They want to go into your schools w/ no mask and think it’s their business and no one else’s. 4 Drs in Florida died this week within 2 days period. I thought OMG that’s tragic… They all were unvaccinated. They were Drs who were unvaccinated going into hospitals to treat sick people. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/2 "2021-08-13T21:34:44Z")
Possibly. If Trump or someone like him is President, and the public health agencies are all staffed by conservatives, then I bet they will start accepting public health directives again. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/3 "2021-08-13T21:35:15Z")
If dire enough, and under the right circumstances that let them blame the right people, yes. Suppose, for instance, that instead of being natural in origin, China had announced that it was an intentional bio-attack or an unintentional leak of a bioweapon. Well, it being a “bioweapon” would give it much more of an adversarial vibe and sell it much better among conservatives, who would take the masking, distancing much more seriously. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/4 "2021-08-13T21:37:38Z")
This is very similar to that joke about Mary Todd Lincoln. “Other than the other stuff how did you enjoy the play” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/5 "2021-08-13T21:38:58Z")
Yes. The 2020 pandemic was a perfect storm of a medical disaster and those circumstances are unlikely to occur again. Even the average right wing President would be smart enough to see there’s no political advantage for him in telling his followers to oppose medical treatment during a pandemic. He’s just killing off his own followers and weakening his base. If a normal conservative like Cruz or Rubio or Santorum had been elected in 2016, he would have gone along with a rational response to a medical crisis and not turned it into a political divide. If a Democrat had won, the Republicans would have turned the crisis into a political issue but they wouldn’t have been dumb enough to tell their own followers to refuse treatment. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/6 "2021-08-13T21:46:49Z")
I should have said, someone like Trump but who actually has a clue… ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/7 "2021-08-13T21:51:11Z")
If the public accepted public health mandates then most of the 700K people who died from HIV would still be alive. Its human nature to ignore authority. Authorities have to find a better way to get their message across. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/8 "2021-08-13T21:58:32Z")
Again? When did we ever accept them? Maybe during the war on smallpox, but we had/have the ability to wipe out polio at this point and that seems totally unattainable. To the point about Trump’s fans - if the vaccines were approved on his watch, and he gave the directive to his morons to get vaccinated ASAP using “his” vaccines, I would think some of us here on this board would balk a little at that. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/9 "2021-08-13T22:21:44Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Its human nature to ignore authority. Not everyone is subject to this particular “human nature” so it’s not a good example of it, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/10 "2021-08-13T22:22:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If a normal conservative like Cruz or Rubio or Santorum had been elected in 2016, Describing Cruz or Santorum as “normal” conservatives tells how low the bar has fallen. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/11 "2021-08-13T22:24:10Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > When did we ever accept them? We never had a major party go against the public health system on what seems to be “general principle.” When did we not have public health mandates? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/12 "2021-08-13T22:26:25Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > Possibly. If Trump or someone like him is President, and the public health agencies are all staffed by conservatives, then I bet they will start accepting public health directives again. Sure, but the “Health Directives” will involve taking drugs that have been “approved” by the Department of Making Sure Certain Stock Prices Rise" ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/13 "2021-08-13T22:26:47Z")
Trump being reelected would be like a Lincoln assassination; electing a smarter one who has a clue, would be like Booth had sex with the wound. And that may be more likely than not at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/14 "2021-08-13T22:27:14Z")
You mean like restrictions regarding a woman’s reproductive health? Of course. Its in the best interest of the public to stick their nose into my uterus and allow my insurance to not pay for my birth control. My guess is that if their are health restrictions that will disproportionately hit minorities, we’d be all for those as well. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/15 "2021-08-13T22:38:57Z")
Everybody doesnt have to be subject to it for it to be problematic. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/16 "2021-08-13T22:58:36Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > My guess is that if their are health restrictions that will disproportionately hit minorities, we’d be all for those as well. I wonder if advertising the fact black Americans are least likely to be vaccinated would encourage Republicans to get the vaccine? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/17 "2021-08-13T23:08:11Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > I wonder if advertising the fact black Americans are least likely to be vaccinated would encourage Republicans to get the vaccine? You’d need multiple campaigns. A sign outside vaccine clinics in certain areas that says “whites only” to attract the racist white folk. A campaign that says black people are being excluded from lifesaving medicine, so get yours now to fight the power! For predominantly black areas. Whatever it takes. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/18 "2021-08-13T23:17:25Z")
When I think of human nature I think of white lies, goof ups, but not signalling refusing to trust the government ever again on any matter of substance. It seems a little beyond to me. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/19 "2021-08-13T23:33:53Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > You’d need multiple campaigns. A sign outside vaccine clinics in certain areas that says “whites only” to attract the racist white folk. > **[CDC Launches Ad Campaign Featuring Racist Mascot In Effort To Get More...](https://www.theonion.com/cdc-launches-ad-campaign-featuring-racist-mascot-in-eff-1846439799)** > > ATLANTA—Targeting the series of PSAs towards communities that were skeptical of inoculation, the Centers For Disease Control launched a new ad campaign Tuesday featuring a racially offensive animated mascot in an effort to get more conservatives... ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629/20 "2021-08-13T23:35:03Z")
Ever is a very long time. When we get to the point where life expectancy is increasing a year or more every year, tolerance of the unvaccinated will be down there with attitudes towards drunks who turn off their SUV’s self-drive feature. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-us-right-ever-accept-mandatory-public-health-directives-again/948629.md?page=2)