Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick recently appeared on Fox News to issue an impassioned plea for Americans to risk their lives for “the economy” by returning to work amid the devestating COVID-19 pandemic. Patrick used the rosy language of American exceptionalism to make his psychopathic tirade sound compelling to a disproportionately older audience.

“As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?” the Texas Republican asked. “And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.”

In this context, “America” is a Republican euphemism for corporate profits and Wall Street greed. The abstract, nebulous entity known as “America” isn’t really at risk; neoliberal capitalism is.

It is impossible to know with certainty whether politicians like Dan Patrick would actually be willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the stock market, or if they’d just end up sacrificing others instead. My guess is the latter. But this question is secondary to a larger thematic issue; a profound clarification of the old mantra “profit over people.” During this ongoing forty-year neoliberal nightmare, few statements have elucidated this grim prioritization better than Dan Patrick’s.

As Congresspeople argue over the details of the pending stimulus package, Senator Bernie Sanders (who recently won the Democrats Abroad primary) is showing bold, humanistic leadership by proposing a massive expansion in public healthcare capacity, full unemployment pay, expanding food subsidy programs, waiving student loan payments, an immediate moratorium on evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut-offs, and emergency $2,000 cash payments to every person in America every month for the duration of the crisis.

In many of his policy positions, Sanders has been deeply inspired by the New Deal legislation of the 1930s — a model we should look to during this current crisis if we value human life over corporate profits. After all, this may be a choice between robust social democracy and complete societal collapse.