Is it Really Small vs. Large Government?

The recent outbreak of the measles has quickly moved into the political arena with two of the Republican presidential contenders, Chris Christie and Rand Paul, essentially saying that vaccines are very good but people should not be forced to vaccinate their children. Rand Paul goes further to say that vaccination has on occasion brought on severe mental problems. This argument that its good but should not be imposed on all and should be strictly voluntary gets to the heart of one of the differences between the Right and Left, the individual vs. society. Neither politician claimed that the vaccines are not good for society. They stand for minimizing restrictions on an individual’s rights. Or so it seems. Why then at the height of the Ebola outbreak, the right was quite vocal about restricting movement of individuals who potentially contracted Ebola? Governor Christie forced a nurse returning from West Africa to live in a tent in isolation for several weeks. Imposing on an individual’s freedom did not enter the discussion. Both the isolation and the vaccination were taking away freedoms for the benefit of society as a whole. Maybe it’s because in the case of Ebola, a few were disrupted for potentially the benefit of many while the vaccine was all giving something up for potentially a few. Following 9/11, after the deaths of 3,000 innocent civilians, the Right had no difficulty in abrogating some rights of individuals, spending a trillion dollars and sacrificing the lives of thousands of our soldiers and hundreds of thousands of foreign civilians, to prevent a reoccurrence. At the same time refusing to even bend a little, allowing minor firearm controls or spending a fraction of the moneys spent on the “War on Terror” on social improvements to reduce the gang violence in the inner cities saving an even greater number of lives. So again, why the difference? One possibility is that Ebola was scary and fear motivates the Right whereas the Measles not so much; or that gang violence effects the “other” and isn’t a threat to middle class whites. Maybe it’s because in the case of Ebola and terrorism the threat is from the outside and our machismo demands we fight it. Whatever it is I don’t think it’s a big/small government or an individual liberties issue.