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Republicans like Sen. John “bombs away” McCain and others have begun calling for an “Ebola Czar.” We don’t need a czar; we need the Republicans to put the country first instead of putting their ideology first.
America’s top doctor is the surgeon general. It is his or her responsibility to coordinate the response to an infectious breakout in America. During crises, like the one we are experiencing now with Ebola, the surgeon general is the “go to” person. It is the surgeon general that tells the general public what is going on. Without a surgeon general, what we have instead is a whole bunch of people telling us what is going on. This crisis is a very complex scientific event and the different nuances that different doctors might employ can and does confuse people. Confused people tend to panic more easily.
The surgeon general is also responsible for telling doctors and hospitals how to handle patients with infectious diseases. The second nurse to get Ebola in Texas was because the healthcare workers and nurses were not trained properly about how to handle themselves around people infected with Ebola. A surgeon general would have filled that need.
So why don’t we have a United States Surgeon General? Because the man nominated over a year ago to be the surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, made a comment once that guns should be considered a public health issue. The National Rifle Association took umbrage at this comment and so they instructed the Republican Party to block his nomination, and the Republicans dutifully carried out the NRA’s orders and blocked his nomination. So now, America can’t have a surgeon general unless the NRA approves the nomination.
This is not America, and this is certainly not democracy.
Just one more example among hundreds that show the Republican Party is no longer a viable political entity within America’s democracy.
Thanks To the NRA, The US Has No Surgeon General Overseeing the Ebola Threat
