Exploiting Disaster

Exploiting The Art of Disaster

Citing the need to

By ASHLEY VARNER

VP for COMMUNICATIONS protect the public, the nation's leftist governors are taking advantage of the current pandemic to enact schemes that have nothing to do with the disease and everything to do with consolidating their political power. I n the Age of Coronavirus, it’s even more important than ever to watch what our politicians and unelected “authorities” actually do than listen to what they say because the former is a far better barometer of their powers previously unrecognized to shut down private businesses, stop families from visiting each other and prevent religious services from taking place — even when innovative solutions exist to allow many such activities to continue. true motivations regarding their True to the totalitarian credo power versus our liberty. of never letting a good crisis go to

In response to a legitimate health waste, matters quickly spiraled out of emergency, governors and mayors control. across the country eagerly assumed Michigan Gov. Gretchen

Whitmer — who actually believes she’s positioning herself to be named Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate — in fact cemented her status as the poster child for this sort of administrative overreach.

Whitmer first signed an executive order preventing businesses from selling fruit and vegetable seeds, and even banned “gatherings of any size.” But her true colors came through loud and clear when she issued a no-bid contract for Coronavirus contact tracing to Great Lakes Community Engagement, which is operated by a well-known Democratic consultantMichael Kolehouse— who has previously writtenthat President Trump should "getCoronavirus ASAP," and that someone should "do the country a favor and cough on that man."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, meanwhile, shut down the state-owned (and monopolized) liquor stores.

Beverly, Mass., a suburb of Boston, set up one-way sidewalks and threatened to issue $100 citations to anyone who walked in the wrong direction.

Kentucky state troopers took down the license plate numbers of churchgoers on Easter Sunday.

As government continues to shut down the private sector, Americans are losing their jobs and filing for unemployment by the millions, parents are thrust into unexpected homeschool situations and arguably the most productive economic period in American history was eradicated in a matter of weeks.

And yet Biden has embraced failed Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ sweeping plan to bail out college graduates who perhaps were not as financially savvy as they should have been or pursued degrees in fields that don’t pay the bills by tearing up their student loans.

You heard right: The entire fabric of American life has been turned upside down and liberties are being trampled left and right (and from the left and the right), but presidential hopefuls are seriously entertaining the notion that what this nation needs right now is for people who were financially responsible either during or after college — or did not even go to college — to pay off student loan debts they didn’t incur.

Such a move isn’t about charity. And it’s not simply about courting the “Bernie Bros.”

It’s about government manipulation and control over more of our personal lives.

President Ronald Reagan famously said, “if you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it.” Government can and does manipulate human behavior by financially encouraging or discouraging lifestyle choices.

What does forcing taxpayers to pay off millions of others’ student loan debts discourage? Responsibility. It empowers youngsters with little experience making major financial decisions in the first place to ignore practical considerations such as whether they’ll ever have the wherewithal to pay the loans back.

Meanwhile, what does it encourage? Entitlement.

Whatever difficulties they may have mastering the nuances of a major that might actually result in a job that produces a real paycheck, these socialist wannabes almost instinctively grasp that government handouts beget more government handouts.

If every student has a birthright to free tuition, it goes without saying they also have a right to free room and board, transportation and, of course, healthcare.

Unfortunately, just as there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is no such thing as a government handout without attached strings of some sort. When the government hands you a pile of someone else’s money, it may enhance your rights and improve your financial outlook, but it does so at the cost of infringing on the rights of those who are suddenly forced to fund your lifestyle or provide your services.

It means another person or family has to make do with less of their hardearned paycheck so the government can encourage or discourage someone else’s behavior and life choices.

And when people have to pay more in taxes to fund a government pet project, whatever it may be, it means the government has stolen more of someone’s personal, financial independence.

Every dollar we pay to the government is one more we can’t spend ourselves.

It is beyond unseemly that in the Age of Coronavirus and with so many people out of work and unsure of how to pay their own bills that some politicians are asking taxpayers to pay off other peoples’ student loan debts.

And as if that wasn’t outrageous enough, politicians in Washington, D.C., couldn’t resist larding the massive stimulus package sent out in April to millions of cash-strapped Americans with funding for all manner of pet causes, like the Kennedy Center for the Arts, Planned Parenthood and National Public Radio.

While unelected bureaucrats in the Nation’s Capitol and state capitols all over the country have the gall to believe they can determine which small business owners deserve to have the livelihoods stripped from them, governors in states like Washington have no problem classifying “unions and labor advocates” as essential services, allowing them to continue collecting dues that will, in turn, find its way into the campaign war chests of leftist candidates and causes.

Like entitled, irresponsible students, too many in government think they, too, have more right to your money than you do.

In the name of public health, Americans are being forced to make previously unthinkable sacrifices Benjamin Franklin must have been referring to when he famously said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Some in Congress are trying to slip elements of the Green New Deal into Corona aid packages. Because again, never let a crisis go to waste. The Green New Deal is another massive government scheme to take over massive swaths of the private sector and insert government bureaucrats into our personal lives.

Others are hoping these relief bills are “too big to fail,” and that we’ll be too preoccupied to notice or care.

In the Age of Coronavirus, medical experts have successfully scared a large portion of the American people into giving up our cherished freedoms willingly.

It’s one thing for a business owner or religious leader to close their physical doors on their own terms. It’s one thing if a family decides that a birthday party for grandma isn’t a good idea right now. It’s another thing entirely for governors to take away their freedom to make their own decisions about such matters.

There is even talk of so-called “immunity cards” that would allow

free-born Americans to leave their homes only with the government’s permission.

In the Age of Coronavirus, big government devotees are showing their true motivations — expanding reliance on government provisions and increasing their control over our everyday lives.

Whether they be local, state, or federal officials, we see too many petty tyrants using this pandemic to make power grabs unthinkable just a few months prior. And they won’t stop until enough public outrage builds that people simply refuse to comply.

With many of the actions they're taking, the “officials” and “experts” — elected and unelected — are trying to make the working class increasingly dependent on government.

But although these are strange times for Americans, it’s not all doom and gloom.

While the mainstream media want

us to focus on what’s wrong, we can see daily reminders of the goodness of Americans, and America.

Truckers have emerged as the long-unsung heroes everyone now appreciates. They’re getting thanks, waves and free meals from restaurants dotting our country’s highways.

We’re likewise reminded of the vital importance of first responders — whether they be law enforcement, firefighters or healthcare professionals — for perhaps the first time since the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

People are looking in on each other; checking in with neighbors and calling their loved ones more often.

Communities are coming together with volunteer projects to deliver essential items and food to shut-ins and other vulnerable members of our population.

Life has slowed. Families are doubtless spending more time together than they perhaps have in years. People are learning that work doesn’t have to be done in an office building. Spouses are learning what their partner actually does for a living.

Parents are learning more about their childrens’ education and are getting a taste of what it takes to be an educator themselves. There may even be a surge in families making alternative educational decisions even when the kids can go back to brick-and-mortar government schools.

Americans come together in times of crisis. Americans want to work. The independent spirit we inherited from our Founding Fathers is very much alive.

We don’t need the government as much as the government wants us to need it. We’re Americans, and we’ll get through this.

And of course, we are apparently learning to wash our hands.

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