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The problem with people referring to this bizarre pandemic life limbo as “the new normal” is that there are people out there, both in and out of positions of responsibility, who are digging this opportunity to boss us around. And it is troubling to see that there are a number of prominent folks who are in no hurry to curtail their ability to boss us around. We need to note carefully who these people are and ensure that they never get a chance to control anything again.
You are starting to see more of that as this drags out. You have got Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom and others thinking this is a great time to get our socialism on. You also have functionaries – all of whom are still getting paychecks – who are way too eager to start issuing orders instead of relying on citizens to behave rationally. We don’t need to be ordered around, but they can’t resist the ordering. The moron mayor of LA is offering rewards to freedom narcs, and government hacks making stores refuse to sell “non-essential” items – what the hell they are thinking telling us what is and is not “essential” anyway? They are thinking, “Hey, this power stuff is fun!” Which is why you should never give power to someone who enjoys it.
The mainstream media, when it’s not otherwise engaged in covering for the bat-eating ChiComs and ignoring the credible #MeToo allegations against ole Grandpa Badfinger, is cheerleading to shut down the entire country. Of course, just because New Yorkers live on top of each other in a festering urban petri dish does not mean everyone else does, but who cares? If those urban swells have to sit tight in their crappy walk-ups watching Netflix, so do those folks out in Jesusland, damnit. Also, they feel the need to close the gun stores since the manly act of purchasing equipment to defend one’s self, family, community, and Constitution shames the liberal sissies whose low-T lifestyle keeps them from doing their duty.
Even some randos are joining in. We have all seen vids of bossy people on the street screaming at other people who refuse to truss up their pieholes like suburban banditos. The proper response to the Junior G-men (most of whom appear to be hard five chicks named “Karen”) is to invite them to do to themselves what their husbands cannot or will not do.
And there’s that video of mortified deputies waiting on an LA beach for some surfer to come back to the sand, because being alone in the Pacific is basically condemning millions to infection or something. What it really constitutes is defiance, not danger, which our midwit overlords cannot abide. And just imagine that you signed up to be a cop thinking you’d live Heat and instead you’re popping Spicoli for riding some tasty waves.
“We’re gonna have to take him in the water. Wait till he’s all in. Get clean shots. Watch your background.” (BTW, I will be discussing Heat and other stuff you should watch while incarcerated on my next Townhall VIP podcast “Unredacted”).
What is particularly troubling are the medical experts who gleefully demand months of our continued imprisonment. They can’t seem to understand that the medical angle is only one component of this situation. Yes, it’s an important one. So is not creating a depression. Now, there’s nothing shocking that medical people will look at a situation from a purely medical perspective. Back in Kosovo, when my appendix decided to vapor lock, they told me “The surgeon is out doing a MEDCAP (helping locals) and we want to wait until he gets back to see what he wants to do,” to which I replied, “What do you think the surgeon is going to want to do?” They thought about it for a second then prepped me for the OR.
But the medical perspective is not the only perspective. There are other perspectives that need to be considered, like the economy and our liberty, and so we elect people to consider them. See, this is why we are not a technocracy. We are a republic. We normal citizens get the final say in our country’s priorities, and we may not decide that our priorities are exactly the same as Dr. Fauci’s. I, for one, am willing to accept some risk regarding the infection in order to avoid America degenerating into a Road Warrior scenario – unless I can be the Humungous, who really gets a bad rap for his innovative and focused leadership style.
Adults accept risk when balancing various interests. The idea that “It’s not worth one life” is childish and stupid. We have cars. Cars kill 30K people a year. We accept that risk. What’s the proper risk balancing for the Chinese coronavirus? Well, we as citizens need to figure that out. That process is called “politics.” That’s why whenever anyone tells you that “This is no time for politics,” they really mean they don’t want you to have any input into the decision. Without politics, you have a dictatorship, and that seems to be the unspoken theme of a growing number of elected officials and others.
But Americans are not good at being bossed around – well, liberal college grads are, but the rest of us aren’t weak-sauce geebos.
America is really run by consent. When we citizens agree that a policy was duly enacted through the proper processes and makes some semblance of sense, we obey voluntarily. Our tax system is essentially voluntary – it depends on people being generally honest. Sure, there are audits after, but while most people may grumble about the rates, paying our share is legit and so we generally try to figure out what we owe under the law and pay it. Have you ever driven at 3 am and seen people stop at STOP signs at empty intersections? It’s a legit law, so we accept it and obey it instead of having to have a cop right there to force us. Having lived on a couple of other continents, I can assure you that is not how every country works.
That’s why power-hungry jerks can actually harm our collective response. If the actions to ameliorate the pandemic begin to be seen as illegitimate and oppressive, we’ll stop doing them. Moreover, we need to show that these are temporary measures and we are going to lift them as soon as we can. You can see that President Trump is chomping at the bit to throw off the shackles of the pandemic response. Pretty soon, most everyone will be. We are all in when we see the response makes sense, but as this goes on with no light at the end of the tunnel and more power-hungry jerks getting off on getting on our backs, that will change. The fact that the grimmest Bat Soup Disease predictions have not come true will only accelerate this natural backlash. There’s a fuse on America’s patience, especially with the aspiring nanny-staters, and when it burns to the end look out.
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