I suspect it was my comment, probably flagged for comparing the ID mandates to jim crow laws, but I'd say your response question reduces to, "we are an elite,

I suspect it was my comment, probably flagged for comparing the ID mandates to jim crow laws, but I'd say your response question reduces to, "we are an elite, how do we deal with these ignorant proles?" which is begging the question. The connection between data and policy is mostly fictional, other than it is used to support chosen narratives, and not to illuminate truth. I look at the resistance as a human instinct, where some can convert it to articulated objections and clearly, and others have limited tools, but what they have in common is a clear and united desire. Anyone who knows anything about data (let alone govt) knows that data at very best only loosely informs policy decisions, it does not make them. Leaders may hide behind it, but they ignore it just as often if not moreso, and that these people reject data as censored, cherry picked, fudged, fabricated, is consistent with how policymakers handle it.