Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wyoming. If this were Jeopardy, (which in a sense, it is), the question might be, what are thirteen states with high rates of incarceration? Or Death Penalty States? Or states with high rates of gun ownership? Or firearm deaths? Or executions? If you guess any of these, you are only partially correct. First, of the thirteen states listed above, all but Alaska have the death penalty, and of the twenty-eight states that do have the death penalty, eleven of the remaining twelve on this list have executed prisoners in the last six years; and ten of the remaining twelve are in the top 25 states for number of executions since 1976, with five of those ten placing in the top 10. It is a concerning parallel to the (unrevealed) topic at hand. Furthermore, with about 4% of the world’s population, the United States houses about 25% of the world’s prisoners and owns about 46% of the civilian held firearms, and (shockingly) is responsible for approximately 90% of worldwide child and teen firearm deaths. Looking deeper, of the thirteen states listed above, ten rank in the top fourteen of all fifty states in per capita imprisonment rate, ten rank in the top twenty of all fifty states in per capita gun ownership, and eleven rank in the top nineteen of all fifty states in per capita (2008-2017) firearm deaths. So, in a roundabout way, I am talking about all of these things including and most especially a death penalty. The list above shows the thirteen states that do not (as of this week) have a mask mandate. Correlations abound.

In addition to the thirteen states above, Kansas has a statewide mask mandate, but a state law was passed by the esteemed lawmakers in that great state in June that stripped the governor of some emergency powers and allowed counties to opt out of the mask mandate; 80 out of 105 counties have done so. So that makes 14 of 50 states thumbing their nose at science and reason. And furthering the death penalty parallel above, 11 of these 14 states are in the top 25 in per capita coronavirus cases, with the other 3 coming in at #26, #28 and #29. And what about Texas? It appears to be an exception because they do have a mask mandate, yet they lead the nation in total number of death penalty executions since 1976, and total number of death penalty executions since 2014; and they are #6 in state rankings for per capita incarceration and they have more civilian held firearms and more firearm deaths than any state in the nation. Regardless of appearances, this disregard for Life is borne out in that they also lead the nation in total number of coronavirus cases, and they are second in total number of deaths attributed to Covid. Additionally, some may feel that Texas statistics should be considered in light of the fact that it is the second most populous state, but when compared to the most populous state, Texas has nearly half again as many per capita Covid cases, more than half again as many per capita Covid deaths, and (perhaps most telling) Texas has administered less than half the total number of Covid tests as has California.

I could go on…

…but I would like to focus on the numbers; specifically, the 14 of 50 states thumbing their nose at science and reason. I believe this range, (somewhere between one-quarter and one third), is an accurate approximation of how we are divided: approximately one-fourth unreasonable and incapable of reason; approximately one-fourth unreasonable but capable of reason; approximately one-fourth reasonable but incapable of reason; and approximately one-fourth reasonable and capable of reason. (Or I believe it could be as much as two-thirds unreasonable and only one-third reasonable). I am not looking at this in a strict political light. In fact, I believe that a very large majority of politicians would fall into one of the two unreasonable factions, because when I look at their results, I am hard pressed to make a case for a reasonable politician or a reasonable government. (Adding supportive depth to all this ratio conjecture, I can also note that 89.4% of all executions since 1976 have been carried out in 26% of the states).

I would like to think that reasonable is growing and unreasonable shrinking. Even if we are only moving individuals into the deferential or even apathetic reasonable-but-incapable-of-reason camp, this at least helps to de-politicize what is today a powder keg of vitriolic misinformation and divisive manipulation. Perhaps lifelong learning is not for everyone. Based on the four divisions above, I might surmise that only one-fourth are making any kind of actual, consistent effort toward lifelong learning. I believe that those (including many politicians) in the unreasonable-but-capable-of-reason crew believe they are lifelong learners, but because "one's ability to reason begins with one's ability to differentiate between a fact and a premise” those who argue a premise as a fact may show they are capable of reason but also show they are unreasonable in that they believe a premise as a fact. Any premise with which there is widespread disagreement, must be afforded the respect that comes from acknowledging the fact that it is a premise. And even a premise that is agreed upon by a majority, must be acknowledged as merely a strongly held conviction or belief. To believe requires a leap; a leap entails some risk (with no safety net), so to work to justify that leap as a stroll through the park is unreasonable; and I do not believe it is possible for one who is consistently unreasonable to be practicing lifelong learning. For lifelong learning, some uncertainty is required.

I believe the root of unreasonable is fear and/or discontent. And I believe this root of fear and discontent has spread for many reasons, flowering into a more and more active unreason. To varying degrees, fertilizers have been consistently spread on these roots to help them bloom since the founding of our nation. Today and in recent decades, some of the more heavily and frequently used growth stimulants include an increasing wealth gap, the color of law, homelessness, food insecurity, discriminatory policing, and lack of equitable or consistent health care. So perhaps the way to move more individuals into a reasonable bloc is to resolve some of these issues that are creating the fear and discontent. Yet we continue to give power to the wealthy and powerful who prefer the status quo and (more than anything) fear the loss of their wealth and power. We continue to listen to the unreasonable politicians who make unachievable promises, blame others who don’t believe as they do, claim they as we, claim expertise, and defame actual experts.

It appears we may have taken a baby step with the (yet-to-be-accomplished) ouster of our current prevaricator-in-chief. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that our incoming administration has spent a lifetime as part of the political old guard, and (I believe) still sets firmly on the side of unreason. There has simply been too much contentious separation in our political system to believe anyone can flip a switch from unreasonable to reasonable. We will continue to see significant, disruptive contempt between the two parties, that will play out between the House and the Senate and the Administration and the now-politicized Courts. And those in power, remain wealthy and powerful. They have us right where they want us.

So, if our only choices for leaders are the unreasonable, perhaps by giving power to those in the unreasonable-but-capable-of-reason clique we will be choosing policymakers who might figure out that by resolving some of the issues creating discontent, they are more likely to lull the masses and maintain power. That is, after all, what they want: to stay wealthy and to maintain power. And until we are able to fully plumb the depths of the reasonable-and-capable-of-reason network to find efficiency in progress, I am afraid it will continue to be baby steps. I am actively hopeful though that since 2016 and into the next administration, we will at least continue to learn that creating discontent does not resolve discontent. And I am actively hopeful that as a discontented constituency, we will continue to pressure our current cabal of unreasonable-but-capable-of-reason leaders to narrow and ultimately close gaps that for far too long have perpetuated an unreasonable disregard for Life.

And I am actively hopeful that it does not become too late.