By Chuck Warren
On last week’s show, BreakingBattlegrounds.vote, Sam and I had the opportunity to interview Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) where we discussed his parent’s immigration from Communist Eastern Europe, border security, national debt, and Covid.
Regarding Congressman Harris, he was a doctor before being elected to Congress. A graduate of John Hopkins Medical School.
One part of our conversation didn’t sit well with me, and I have reflected on it often this past week.
I asked Congressman Harris if due to his medical background, did members from both sides of the aisle, come talk to him and seek his counsel during the Covid pandemic?
His reply,
“Well, I will tell you that certainly from my side of the aisle [GOP], they did. You know, my opinion was that we didn’t take the right course of action during Covid. So, a lot of members on the other side of the aisle didn’t come talk to me about it.”
There are nineteen doctors that are members of Congress (Senate and House), fifteen which are Republicans. If Democrat colleagues – even from his Democrat heavy Maryland delegation – did not bother to seek Congressman Harris’ insight and counsel, were other Republican members consulted? Advice sought? I thought Democrats were the party of “science.”
Would not an honest and curious mind wonder why Congressman Harris held this position on the federal government’s efforts?
In my follow-up question regarding this point, I asked the following:
“It’s amazing to me that members on both sides of the aisle, especially Democrats, didn’t come to you … I just find it appalling that they’re not willing to talk to a colleague and say, you know, hey, Congressman Harris, what do you think based on your background? I just [find] that so strange.”
Congressman Harris responded,
“Well, again, you know, they made everything partisan… If you agreed with President Trump on anything, you were wrong. It didn’t make a difference whether you’re a physician or not. You were wrong. That’s just not the way it should be. And literally to a person, I mean, I knew all the physicians, all of them who are Republicans, literally every single one of them knew that we were heading in the wrong direction. And yet … what the problem was, was there were only a couple of doctors that were appearing everyday (you can find more of the interview on our podcast).”
Here is my concern: have we as a nation really become so tribal, that we are unwilling to talk to a doctor about a medical emergency because they belong to a different political party? Does anyone think we would have reached the moon with that type of intellectual bigotry? Or achieved the remarkable medical progress we've witnessed, from producing insulin for diabetic patients to developing oral antibiotics that have advanced cystic fibrosis treatment?
The same standard applies to Republicans. I want elected officials who gather as much information as possible as they make decisions that affect my loved ones and me.
I am a conservative, but I cannot frame my life and how I obtain information by only seeking and reading information from conservatives. That doesn’t challenge me. That prevents me from learning. It hinders me from finding holes and making better decisions regarding public policy.
From another pandemic to AI’s rapid advancements, we need to be able to step out of our bubbles and seek the advice and counsel from those with specific knowledge and expertise to choose the best course of action.
As America faces challenges going forward, we must undertake a learning revolution. Where we step outside our comfort zone and accumulate the most knowledge possible to make the best decisions for our families, loved ones and communities. America’s grand experiment is counting on it.
Listen to the full interview with Congressman Andy Harris here.
Note: the opinions expressed herein are those of Chuck Warren only and not his co-host Sam Stone or Breaking Battlegrounds’ staff.