Then there is the Republicans in the Idaho legislature who feel that they are being bossed around by “elitists.” By that they mean people who are academics or scientists; people who study things and make decisions based on data, often in consultation with each other.

There are people who are choosing to be stupid, and they are proud of it. They feel it’s fascism for those experts to tell them what to do. They get even more upset when those experts tell them that they are making those recommendations for the “public good.” They are the public, and it’s not what they want. They see it as the freedom to do what they want, even if it kills people like me.