In “The Ten Commandments,” Moses, played by Charlton Heston, famously commands Pharaoh Rameses to “Let my people go!” Yul Brynner responds, “The slaves are mine. Their lives are mine. All that they own is mine.” It’s a great movie, but it’s become a bit of a documentary on the attitude of many on the left, especially Democratic governors, when it comes to reopening the economy and basic liberty.
I get it, there’s a pandemic happening and precautions need to be taken to protect ourselves and others. But there’s no alternative for most people. They need to get back to work and back to life. Democrats are reluctant to allow either, and much more.
This begs the question “Why?”
Is it possible that Democrats, who never want to let a good crisis go to waste, see an electoral advantage in destroying lives? Their army of flying monkeys in the media certainly do. Every uptick in the number of cases in a state reopening is reported immediately, as if there isn’t a lag of up to two weeks between exposure to coronavirus and symptoms. It hasn’t been unusual to see stories about how the “number of cases jumped” on the same day a Republican-run state eased restrictions. That would be a neat trick, a kind of time travel witchcraft, but we all know it’s impossible.
No, the truth is something different; something that won’t drive headlines or increase ratings. We’re testing more people now than anywhere else in the world. Guess what happens when you look for something? You find it, and more of it. Since most people are asymptomatic, but tests are readily available and “free,” that is going to lead to more tests.
Another way they try to scare people into their homes is the rolling totals. Aside from celebrities and members of the media, how many people have you heard about who’ve beaten the virus? Yet they still report the total as if every single person ever diagnosed is on the verge of death. Tom Hanks is a lot of things, but soulless, permanent super-spreader is probably not one of them. He’s better. But the total keeps rising as if they’re active cases. Trying to scare people is the only reason to continue to use it.
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Same goes for the way the number of deaths is reported. “The death toll continues to rise,” reporters belch daily. Sadly, that’s what happens. It’d be real news if the total number started going down. The incessant reporting of the rolling total only serves political purposes.
Context matters and these people don’t want the public to have context. They want them scared, they want them blaming the president and Republicans. Nevermind the fact that the majority of cases and deaths are in Democrat-controlled states or the unending praise of those Democrats from the media. “Governor Andrew Cuomo has offered steady leadership in this terrible time,” they say. Yes, he’s stuck by his ordering of 4,500 infected people into nursing homes, which led to more deaths in New York nursing homes alone than the entire state of Florida, which has more people.
Similar orders were given in Michigan and Pennsylvania, among others, with similar results, but their leaders are praised, with one, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, even making the short-list for the Democratic Party’s VP pick. There’s “failing up” and there’s rising up on a pile of dead bodies as a result of your actions.
But people have had enough. Either out of necessity or frustration over being placed under house arrest at a time when liberals are emptying prisons in the name of “compassion,” people are leaving their houses and returning to life.
Beaches are crowded, not packed. People are shopping and getting their hair cut. They’re seeing friends and family again.
This isn’t being done recklessly, no matter how it’s spun. CNN spent the weekend decrying “crowded beaches,” then cutting to aerial shots of beaches where people were keeping their distance. In fact, the most famous picture of a crowded boardwalk on Memorial Day weekend was a complete fraud, yet it was reported widely, with pearls fully clutched.
People tried asking nicely, they tried protesting, now they’re just going ahead without asking permission. And they’re winning.
There are bumps in the road, obviously. Some people are resistant to wearing a mask in public and that’s their right. The man who filmed himself being kicked out of a Costco for refusing to wear a mask went viral. “I woke up in a free country,” he yelled. Yes, he did. But part of freedom is private property rights. If Costco has a policy requiring those who enter to wear a mask, you either wear a mask or you don’t get in. You can’t be outraged over someone being forced to bake a cake against their will while imposing your own on another business. That’s not how freedom works.
But mostly things are going well. People are being mindful and smart. What we aren’t doing is going to our governors and begging to be free. The lockdown lasted as long as we, the people, allowed it to. We wash our hands, don’t touch our faces, keep our distance from others, and stay home when we’re not feeling well.
What we aren’t, and what we refuse to become, is wards of the state. A couple of people walking on a beach can be arrested, thousands of people walking on the beach can only be observed. These states that refused the will of their people are learning that their people will not bow to their will any longer. The deal was “flatten the curve” to protect the hospitals and we did that. Just because politicians found glory in their new power doesn’t mean they found subjects over which to wield it.
We aren’t asking to be set free, we are free and we’re going free. Every politician who tries to stop it, who orders arrests or fines, who shuts down a perfectly legal business following social distancing while declaring marijuana dispensaries essential needs to be freed from their job come November.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!), host of a daily radio show on WCBM in Maryland, and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.
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