Can Government Deliver a Risk-Free Utopia?

The View from the Middle

 

Three years ago, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez said, and I am quoting here, “The world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change (now).”  I’m sure she is using that exact same quote today, but I’m going to help Ms. AOC with some fundamental math facts, because I know she’s not particularly strong academically in that area (or any other that I am aware of).  Twelve minus three is nine.  The clock is ticking, and I plan to be here in nine years to call her a liar, a fearmonger and a complete idiot.  And I don’t say that with any misogynistic venom.  I believe women can say and do stupid things just as often as men can and AOC is simply proving my point.

AOC also demonstrates a new political technique that I am calling “The Convenient Argument”.  A Convenient Argument is one that cannot be proven wrong or right and allows politicians to take credit or place blame no matter what actually happens.  I am a climate change agnostic as was the late, great Charles Krauthammer.  Is the world’s climate getting warmer?  Possibly, however given how the scientists gather that information, I actually don’t know, and I’m fairly certain that none of you do either.  Has the earth been through this kind of warming before when man’s activities could not possibly have been a contributing factor?  Absolutely, and there is plenty of scientific evidence to prove that.  

Have 100% of Al Gore’s predictions been proven wrong?  Yes.  Has 99% of climate panic drivers’ (scientists) predictions been proven wrong? Again, absolutely.  The polar bears are still here and so are the polar ice caps.  New York City is not under water nor are the Maldives (islands who are and have been only six feet above sea level).  The fact is, we should all be very skeptical of the Henny Penny, “the sky is falling” doomsdayers who are trying to take away our money and our rights TODAY by threatening global cataclysm in the distant future.  As I have said before, anyone who tells you that they know for certain what is going to happen in 100 years (the new goalpost for climate fearmongers) is lying.  And I won’t even get into the claim that “global” warming can be corrected by the United States alone.  

I’m NOT saying that we should be living irresponsible lives, trashing the environment as we prance through life.  I’m NOT saying that we shouldn’t be trying to harness renewable energy sources, particularly the sun.  But we shouldn’t be doing this in a panic, destroying entire industries and collapsing the economy of the most environmentally conscious country in the world, which is the US.  We also should not be burdening our children and grandchildren with a national debt that will crush their opportunities and severely limit their choices in the future.

Few people, if any, actually understand climate.  Even Al Gore’s chief climatologist admitted that “Climate” is so complex that it is impossible to predict.  But our politicians in Washington really don’t care about any of that.  They only care about power and their next election.  That is why climate change (or global warming, or whatever they will call it tomorrow) is such a great centerpiece for their campaigns.  If the climate cools, as it has done throughout the history of this planet, the politicians will take credit.  If it does not, they will simply blame their political enemies saying that they didn’t do enough.  No one will be able to prove any of this because it is unprovable, and I believe it’s because this is God’s plan and He has been in control all along.

The Covid-19 debate is very similar.  Few if any actually understand this virus, where it came from and how to mitigate it.  Do masks work?  Fauci said “no” before he said yes, and there is no actual data (evidence) that they do.  There is, however, evidence that they make no difference, especially in children.  Florida has done a study that compared infection rates in schools that mandated masks to schools that did not, and they found no difference.  And a study in Massachusetts found that cloth masks actually increase the likelihood of being infected.  Did shutting down the world’s economies work?  Actually, no!  Our highest infection rates and deaths have come during the world’s most stringent lockdowns and highest mask usage.

I align with the many doctors and virologists, including Dr. Dan Stock from Indiana, who believe that Dr. Fauci, the CDC and the NIH are NOT in control as they suggest.  This virus is in control.  It is doing what viruses have done since the beginning of time.  It infected everyone it could until the beginning of herd immunity challenged its existence and then it mutated in an effort to survive.  But politicians will quickly take credit for naturally occurring declines in infections and will be quick to blame naturally occurring surges on their opponents or you.  Since none of the connections between these actions and results can be proven, it is a perfect and convenient political argument.

And if you won’t march to their demands, they will try to shame you into it.  They will say that if you don’t wear a mask, etc, you want people to die, particularly children.  This is a lazy, despicable, divisive claim.  First, it suggests that infection with Covid-19 is a death sentence when we all know that 99.8% of people who contract this disease will survive.  And the survival rate is even higher for children.  While children aged 17 and under represent approximately 25% of the US population, they represent only .06% of our deaths (that's only 354 out of 610,000 total Covid deaths).  In fact, the seasonal flu is usually deadlier for children than Covid-19, but I don’t remember mask mandates in our schools for that.  The shame offensive is a shame in and of itself.  Life is full of risks.  We could bubble-wrap our kids and put them in padded rooms from birth, but even that wouldn’t guarantee this virus would not find its way into their bodies.  We need to allow people to manage life’s risks as they see fit, not as our bloated, inept, corrupt government suggests.

We need to ignore the political fearmongers.  They are no more in control of this virus than they are in control of the sun, although they will try to convince you that they are.  We need to be independent, responsible adults who can do their own risk assessments and live our lives without the heavy hand of a power-hungry government that will force its will upon us.  You certainly should wash your hands frequently and stay home from work if you have symptoms.  If you want to wear a mask, go ahead, although I personally think that most masks don’t work.  I encourage all to get the vaccine, but that is a personal decision.  If you have already had Covid-19 and recovered there is little evidence that the shots will improve your resistance.  All of this, however, is really just tinkering around the edges of this virus.  It has already proven that IT will have its way despite our best efforts, and we certainly shouldn’t be creating new ones in labs with less safety protocols than your local Subway sandwich shop.

Remember the famous despotic, autocratic, Marxist motto, “don’t let a good crisis go to waste”.  In other words, power-hungry politicians will take advantage of this and every challenge we face to take away our freedom and money with a promise of utopia, which will never come.  Resist the urge to give up your liberty at all costs.  That freedom is what has made this country the best in the world and without it we will experience a descent into poverty, chaos and strife like all of the promised utopias of the past – Russia, Cuba, China, Venezuela, and so on.