The Pandemic Is More a Political Crisis Than a Medical One

The global coronavirus pandemic has created a political crisis in which the absurd is now everyday reality, and anything under the Sun is possible.

In a recent New York Times op-ed headlined "The Coronavirus Made the Radical Possible," author Rachel Cohen argued that the pandemic was an opportunity for state and federal lawmakers to implement the most leftist, harebrained schemes possible — and get away with it as a necessary responses to a medical crisis.

"Last spring, as a poorly understood virus swept the planet, something remarkable happened," she wrote. "Across the country, all levels of government put in place policies that just a few months earlier would have been seen by most people — not to mention most politicians — as radical and politically naïve."

Then Cohen referred to a string of socialist measures lawmakers put in place in response to the crisis, including bans on evictions, utility shutoffs, student loan and mortgage payments, massively increased unemployment benefits, and bans on cash bails.

In short, within months we created a socialist paradise that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., could only have dreamed of.

But by banning foreclosures, evictions, and utility shutoffs, government created another class of victims — the landlords, the utility companies, and the banks and mortgage companies who have their own obligations to meet and the in order to survive.

Bloated unemployment benefits harm the employer when the employee refuses to return to his job because he’s making more by sitting home.

And eliminating cash bail returns the criminal to the streets to prey on more victims.

Cohen closed the piece by acknowledging that COVID "has killed more than half a million Americans and severely disrupted the lives of countless more."

She added, however, that rather that dwelling on that, we should remember that "the time to push for permanent change is now. This is the moment to ensure that lessons from the pandemic become part of the policy conversation moving forward — to remember we can do more than conventional wisdom would have us believe."

The op-ed was published shortly after the Congress approved its $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. Less than 10% had anything to do with COVID, including giving what can only be called reparations to minority farmers.

The COVID bill set aside $4 billion to pay up to 120% of Black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American farmers' outstanding debt as of Jan. 1.

They won’t just pay off the loans, but they’ll pay everyone a bonus. Caucasians need not apply.

Also on the subject of reparations, researchers at Harvard University released a report last month concluding that trillions of dollars more are needed to address the pandemic.

But its mot for research, nor for increased vaccine production, nor for development of therapeutics to treat those infected with the disease.

Nope. The money is needed to pay each descendant of a slave $250,000. If we just do that, everything will be fine.

The study wasn’t conducted by the university’s sociology department, by the way — but by its medical school.

Harvard Medical School assistant professor Dr. Michelle Morse led the study. And she told the Harvard Crimson that reparations, which could cost taxpayers up to $12 trillion, "could have been as effective" at addressing the pandemic in African-American communities as a vaccine.

Tuition at Harvard runs just shy of $50,000 at its undergrad school, and nearly $65,000 at its school of medicine. And this is what $65K gets you?

How about the military?

The United States’ involvement in Afghanistan will hit it’s 20-year anniversary late this year. Why are we still there?

Former President Trump was all in on pulling the troops out — not the Pentagon, and apparently not the Biden administration.

Reuters reported that woke military brass said we need to maintain our military presence halfway around the globe to protect women’s rights.

"Restoring women’s rights after the Taliban was ousted by a U.S.-led coalition of troops in 2001 was cited as one of the main objectives of the war," Reuters reported.

"Violent crime against women in Afghanistan hit record levels and became increasingly brutal in 2013, the head of its human rights commission said on Saturday, a sign that hard won rights are being rolled back as foreign troops prepare to withdraw."

Even the lexicon has taken on a new meaning.

While President Biden’s actions have set off a crisis at the border, the administration is unable to call it a crisis or emergency.

Yet Biden called upon FEMA to come in and help address the problems there, including at a migrant holding facility in Donna, Texas that was at 729% of its capacity.

Not an emergency? FEMA literally stands for Federal Emergency Response Agency.

Unless Democrats are stopped in 2022, the United States is doomed as a country. Period.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.