🧵There's a lot of talk today to the effect that "public health shouldn't be political," & with respect: The notion that government has a responsibility to guide & support the health of every last resident, regardless of background, status, & to some extent even citizenship, is PROFOUNDLY political.
The people who know that better than anyone else are the ones destroying the CDC. "Politics" is your values in action. If your policies reflect the ideas that some people may have to die for the good of the species or that some feel pain less acutely bc of their skin color—that's political! 2/
The reason ACT UP was necessary was bc it was political to suggest that letting gay men die was bad. The reason Black women have to advocate so hard for themselves when pregnant is bc it's political to value the lives of Black women as much as white women. Of course public health is political! 3/3
📢OF COURSE PUBLIC HEALTH IS POLITICAL
📢LIKE I WAS SAYING ABOUT PUBLIC HEALTH BEING POLITICAL
i would say a corollary to "politics is your values in action" is "something being non-political means it is something that fits your politics"
exactly - much like it's "identity politics" until it's the politics of the white guys in power, then it's just ~normal~
*sigh* people don’t understand the difference between political & partisan, and that is a huge part of the problem. Anyhoo, thank you for your thread.
Yes. Politics is the art of making policy. *sigh*
I think we've reached the point where "political" just means "I don't like."
Exactly!
Weaponizing HHS is a project 2025 agenda. This isn’t incidental. It’s not that RFK is a fucking lunatic. It’s a chapter in the book designed to kill democracy in the United States and replace it with authoritarian rule.
It's part of Project 2025, but a) RFK Jr. was given his role BECAUSE he's a dangerous crank & b) acting to have him removed will slow the project down considerably. Not every action will end in overall victory (the vast majority won't) but gumming up the works/slowing them down is a critical tool.