Without a doubt the Chinese corona virus is quite contagious and definitely dangerous for vulnerable Americans with other health issues, but the press’s paranoia pandemic has created a bigger blast than any bomb. No attack or threat has ever brought the United States to a near total standstill in just a few weeks. Pearl Harbor mobilized the nation and 9/11 rallied the country, but a Chinese bat flu sent Americans into hiding. We have weathered various epidemics and pandemics for centuries and still found ways to cope with daily life, but COVID-19 is somehow so terrible that it demands complete docile submission. Go home, surrender your rights, government will dictate what and who are essential and non-essential, and maybe someday a committee of bureaucrats and scientists will tell you it is safe to leave your home again but only with a mask. Does any of that sound American?
Thankfully we are stepping back from the brink of indefinite shutdown and perpetual isolation, but the overreaction has exposed the utter fallibility of experts, the abject duplicity and incompetence of the media, and the tyrannical tendencies of too many politicians. To be sure, most of the drastic mitigation measures initially implemented were generally prudent with the then known evidence and the then thought possible consequences, but why are so many politicians and pundits stubbornly resistant to any course adjustments as our circumstances and information have developed?
For the most part, the doctors and scientists analyzing this pandemic are excellent in their fields and working diligently to navigate this crisis, but we confuse what they know with what they don’t know. They certainly know a lot, but when they try to predict the future, they are only offering educated guesses. There are myriad variables inserted with simply best guesses and it is virtually impossible to account for how those variables might change or if new factors enter the equation, like how the people respond. They try to use computer models, but they are dynamic and constantly changing like the weather. However, the media treats each model as static and every wild prediction as definitive. The models have all been grossly wrong, so we should also note the same extreme errors when the climate change alarmists demand radical measures for guesses that are incredibly overstated.
Throughout this pandemic, the media has been an abysmal failure fueling fear and literally forcing elected leaders into implementing draconian curbs of our liberties or be condemned by the holier than thou media elite for ignorance and insensitivity. The majority of news reporting has been devoid of any rational thought or reasonable debate, but we must acknowledge the nature of the beast that longs for apocalypse. They cannot help but sensationalize every incident hoping to capture your attention and they are hopelessly committed to destroying President Trump. The can barely contain their glee wishing this is Trump’s Katrina. They were desperate to deny that any treatment might work and they are still certain we must keep the country locked down until the economy collapses even though the infection curve has been demonstrably flattened and overwhelming our hospitals has been averted.
While Americans initially accepted government edicts encroaching on our rights and cooperated with extreme social distancing to the point of losing their jobs and shuttering their businesses, it has been more than disturbing how effortlessly our politicians usurped our rights and then how firmly they continue to deny them. This exercise in handy power has shown that too many otherwise decent leaders are easily inebriated with power, but then find it difficult to put down the bottle. Freedom is always hard fought, but never have we seen it so swiftly and voluntarily forfeited.
Conspiracies always abound and for now we cannot know, but if an enemy wanted to take down America, they have succinctly learned that no actual weapons are needed. Simply prey on the media’s indelible desire to damage Trump, infect them with ample fear, and they will eviscerate America for their own morbid satisfaction. There is no balance only a relentless quest for Armageddon.
Fortunately, Americans are not made that way. They love their country and have an undying devotion to their communities, but they ferociously cherish their freedoms. They will sacrifice for the common good, but they won’t sit on their hands. Americans are incredibly industrious. They want to work, they want to find solutions, and they will surely adapt and overcome. America’s greatness comes when Americans are liberated not when they are quarantined. Like the pilgrims and pioneers, they will face adversity, weigh the risks, and meet the challenges in the field not at home. Give them the information and the opportunity and they will always make the right choices. They are yearning to restore America’s greatness. They will be prudent, so trust them!
“Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.” Exodus 9:1
