About a month ago, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick cited himself to tell Fox News' Tucker Carlson that older people were ready to risk their lives to get the economy back up again for the younger/future generations.
"No one reached out to me and said, as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance for your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren? And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in," Patrick said at the time.
For context, Patrick, who's a Republican, made those comments after President Trump indicated his desire to rollback shutdowns in the early stages of social distancing. Procedures that have been put in place to keep us from coming into contact with one another (outside of, say, grocery stores) have since become normalized. And the plan to lift those procedures (in, say, Georgia) have come despite warnings from public health officials, and even other members of the GOP, that the country just isn't ready for that yet.
Anyway, if you're interested, you can watch Patrick's original exchange below:
Four weeks later, the Lieutenant Governor is still singing the same tune.
On Monday (April 20), while once again appearing on Carlson's show to follow-up on those remarks, Patrick provided another sound bite that will in all likelihood be used against him by a future political opponent (wait, it kind of already is) when he said "there are more important things than living."
Again, Patrick was talking about the country going about business the way it was pre-mandatory social distancing because "we are crushing the economy." You can certainly make the argument that Patrick is free to take whatever risks he wants with his own life (though you should keep healthcare workers who'd have to tend to him in mind when you do), but then you should also consider that he's a politician in a position of influence, and that a willingness to put others at risk isn't something a lot of people will get on-board with, sans vaccine or bigger overall plan.
"And what I said when I was with you that night, there are more important things than living," Patrick said. "And that's saving this country for my children and my grandchildren and saving this country for all of us.".
He stated that he doesn't want to die, but that "we've got to take some risks and get back in the game and get this country back up and running."
You can watch the whole interview here.
Already seizing upon Patrick's comments/sentiment was the Texas Democratic Party. On Tuesday, they released a statement about Patrick and Governor Greg Abbott, saying: "They would see our family members die to bail out Wall Street. The lives of our families, our friends, and our communities have no dollar amount. Texas Republicans can no longer claim to be the pro-life party anymore."
So too were people on social media also commenting on Patrick's remark:
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