This is an excellent point from @ThePlumLineGS. Public figures can and do shape public opinion, but we give them a pass when we assume that "public will" is some immutable state of nature, for elected officials to follow. Some thoughts: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… 
1/ It sounds heretical for an elected official to say "we can change public opinion". And yet if we didn't believe that to be true then marketing wouldn't exist. Everyone who's ever sold something had to first convince people they needed it.
2/ Ask yourself what toothpaste you prefer, then ask yourself on what rational basis you decided that [whitening] / [ADA approved] / [insert brand] / [minty fresh] is the logical choice. You made a decision, then you rationalized it.
3/ Likewise, most people don't understand epidemiology, or the physics of global warming, or the relationship between tax policy and fiscal growth. That's fine - these are complicated subjects! But we take queues from people in positions of power who tell us what is true.
4/ Those of us in elected office have access to virtually unlimited information from subject matter experts. It weighs heavy on most of us to ensure that we don't say something that could cause pain, suffering or death given the size of our platforms.
5/ And yet I do not say all. Because we have high profile figures telling you not to get vaccinated. That climate change isn't real. That more guns make us safer. These aren't just lies. They are beliefs that will doom you to avoidable suffering, and even death.
6/ The folks saying that are no different than those who might yell fire in a crowded theater - except for the fact that there are hundreds of millions of people in this particular theater.
7/ And if they say "well, that's just what the public believes", they are either telling you that they are incapable of leadership or that they have willfully led people to peril. The former makes them mere followers. The latter is criminal. Either are disqualifying.
8/ So have sympathy with those who follow these charlatans. They are victims. But we must bring the perpetrators to account. May they be so lucky as to earn their penalty solely at the ballot box. /fin
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