At a touchy moment when people might be tempted to overreact or panic out of ignorance, what does a leader do?
If you're U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, you tell people that if they're scared, they're not scared enough, that things are even worse than the government is telling you, that the government may in fact be lying to you. You tell them that "because of political correctness we’re not really making sound, rational, scientific decisions on this.”
Speaking to conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham, Paul questioned whether the Obama administration should carry out its plan to send 3,000 troops to Ebola hot zones in Africa.
"You also have to be concerned about 3,000 soldiers getting back on a ship. Where is disease most transmittable? When you're in a very close confines on a ship, we all know about cruises and how they get these diarrhea viruses that are transmitted very easily," he said. "Can you imagine if a whole ship full of our soldiers catch Ebola?"
... Paul, who's laying groundwork for a potential presidential campaign, said "we should not underestimate the transmissibility of this" and questioned the validity (of) what experts have said...
"It's a big mistake to downplay and act as if 'oh, this is not a big deal, we can control all this.' This could get beyond our control," he said.
In a separate interview with conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, Paul expressed concern about the lack of security at the border, saying an insecure "border is not only a danger for national security purposes, it is also a danger for a world-wide pandemic should it occur."
There will not be a worldwide pandemic of Ebola, and Ebola is not going to spread here in the United States. I'll take the word of trained, experienced epidemiologists over that of an opthamologist-turned-opportunist any day. And as the experts at the CDC -- you know, another of those government-funded health programs that never do any good -- told us Wednesday:
"We know how to stop Ebola's further spread: thorough case finding, isolation of ill people, contacting people exposed to the ill person, and further isolation of contacts if they develop symptoms. The U.S. public health and medical systems have had prior experience with sporadic cases of diseases such as Ebola. In the past decade, the United States had 5 imported cases of Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) diseases similar to Ebola (1 Marburg, 4 Lassa). None resulted in any transmission in the United States."
It's also interesting to hear Paul argue that we aren't doing enough to stop Ebola, and then argue that we shouldn't be sending resources to help stop Ebola at its source. The soldiers that we're contributing to the efforts needed to contain Ebola are not going to come in contact with patients. They will be building hospitals, clinics and other facilities at which patients can be isolated, just as the Ebola patient in Texas has been isolated. I have no doubt that their well-being will be closely monitored. They will be in addition to the 100 or so CDC experts already in West Africa, as well as other American doctors and nurses fighting the disease firsthand.
Those are brave, committed people. If they have the courage to do what they're doing on the front lines of this outbreak, surely -- despite the efforts of Paul and others -- we have sufficient courage not to overreact here at home.
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