Michael Barone: The Democratic Party’s Risk Aversion Is Harming Us All

Human beings differ in how much risk they will accept. Thus, as an analyst I quoted in a recent column concluded, Russian President Vladimir Putin “was too risk-acceptant” in invading Ukraine and Chinese leader Xi Jinping “has been too risk-averse” in imposing “zero-COVID” lockdowns.

Differences in accepting and averting risk appear between the sexes. Men tend to be more risk-acceptant and women more risk-averse. This makes evolutionary sense. Risk-taking helps men propagate their genes (Genghis Khan supposedly has 16 million descendants), while averting risk helps each woman preserve her precious few children.

This matters in American politics because women vote differently from men. This gender gap started in the 1980s, when women balked at, and men were more willing to accept, the risks of Reagan-like cuts to safety net programs. Also, single women averse to the risk of unwanted pregnancy strongly favored abortion rights.

The balance of attitudes toward risk has changed with demography. Now, white college graduates are the dominant force in the Democratic Party, and for the first time in America, a majority of college graduates are women.

And so, at a time when liberal white college grads dominate government, media and higher education and are rising in corporate life, it’s not surprising to see people going overboard on risk aversion — on COVID-19 prevention and climate change.

COVID lockdowns, first ordered in March 2020 as a temporary measure to prevent hospital overcrowding, quickly became shutdowns of large segments of the economy. Risk-averse governors moved to ban even zero-risk behaviors, including beach-going in California and buying gardening seeds in Michigan.

But in the desperation to avert the risk of COVID-19 deaths, other risks were ignored, including medical risks from the postponement of cancer screenings and rehabilitative surgery.

Also ignored was the fact, known early on, that COVID-19 risks varied enormously by age, with the elderly at high risk and the young at virtually none. Sweden, which concentrated on protecting those over 65, and Florida, whose policies moved in that direction, suffered no more excess deaths as compared to previous years than most European countries and many American states with more stringent lockdowns.

The risk aversion was especially inappropriate (and in disregard of other risks) in school closings, with teacher union president Randi Weingarten dictating policy to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The clout of the mostly female teachers unions in the Democratic Party resulted in more and longer school closings, and in unnecessary child vaccination requirements, than in just about any other country.

Now the evidence of collateral damage is piling up. Children are two years behind in reading and math, suffering from mental health problems and isolated from peers. The damage is greatest, predictably, among children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special needs. Not so much among the children of the white college grads, averse to even microscopic risks.

Something similar has been happening in energy policy. The Democrats’ desperate attempts, driven by their white

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