Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina is a lavatory libertarian. He told the Bipartisan Policy Center that governments shouldn’t force restaurant employees to wash their hands:
“I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says, ‘We don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom.'”
Here’s a sane word on this from Mr. Tillis’ neighborhood:
“If a government shouldn’t create and enforce regulations to stop the spread of disease, for Typhoid Mary’s sake, exactly what should it do, and how many people have to suffer the avoidable consequences in the name of freedom?”
“Even if Tillis was joking, or half-joking, there’s no question that the Republican Party sees government not as the collective expression of a populace but an evil to be eradicated one set of rules at a time, even if it means people getting hurt or sick or financially ruined, because liberty. That, at base, isn’t funny, isn’t funny at all.”
— “Thom Tillis Steps In It,” Greg Lacour, Charlotte Magazine
The FDA has a cogent explanation for compulsory hand washing: It “reduces the spread of fecal-oral pathogens from the hands of a food employee to foods.”
More:
“Would You Eat At A Restaurant That Skipped The Hand-Washing?” Maria Godoy, NPR
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Tags: GOP, hand washing, Hygiene, libertarians, public health, Republicans, restaurant hygiene, restaurants, Thom Tillis
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