Recent weeks have made it clear that Democrats don’t know fascism,
even when it is staring back at them. On fascism, the Father of Fascism, Benito
Mussolini, wrote,
“The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its
duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison
with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in
their relation to the State.”
If ever the American government viewed its authority as
“absolute,” if ever individual Americans were under the notion that they were
“only to be conceived of in their relation to the State,” it was shortly after
COVID-19 entered the U.S. I submit to you that the COVID policies—shutdowns and
lockdowns; “stay home, stay safe;” mandatory masking, social distancing, testing,
and vaccines; and so on—perpetuated by the American left and those like-minded were
the greatest demonstration of fascism the United States has ever known. In the
nearly 250-year history of the U.S., never before has the American government
exercised such power over its citizenry as it did in the name of “slowing the
spread,” “following the science,” and the like. And never before in the history
of the U.S. has the exercise of government power been so misinformed and misguided,
with such disastrous results.
Of course, with elections looming, in an attempt to escape
responsibility for their COVID tyranny, Democrats and their lackeys in the
media want to blame “the pandemic,” and whenever possible, Donald Trump and the
MAGA agenda. For example, last week, the American drive-by media widely
reported on the “dismal learning loss” suffered by U.S. students “due to
the pandemic.” The idea that “the pandemic erased two decades of progress in
math and reading” was
frequently parroted by said media.
Tens of millions of American students suffered far more than
“learning loss” from the late winter of 2020 until now, but almost none of this
was “due to the pandemic.” Rather, it was all due to a widespread foolish—and
often downright evil—reaction to the pandemic.
When confronted with the national test results that revealed
the scope of the “learning loss” suffered by U.S. students, “turning
reality on its head,” the Biden administration pointed the finger at Trump
and the GOP and said that re-opening schools “was the work of Democrats in
spite of Republicans.” As Guy Benson at Townhall.com noted, this is a “brazen
lie.”
Indeed, one of the political reasons that schools remained closed in
Democratic areas and states for as long as they did
is because President Trump called for them to be open. And because designated villains like Gov. Ron
DeSantis were following the data and permitting in-person learning to resume.
In an era of negative partisanship, kids were actively and needlessly hurt—with
lasting deleterious impact—because politically-addicted adults didn't want [to]
admit the 'wrong' sort of people were right about something. Just look at the metrics on states that opened schools first versus last. If [White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s] pathetic
spin were accurate, the red states would be the holdouts.
We all know that’s not true. It’s the opposite of the truth. Conservative governors
were assailed for ‘killing’ children as they made the right call, as
Democrat-funding teachers unions blasted school re-openings as white supremacy, and other such insulting nonsense. They cannot run away from their
policies, and they cannot run away from their words.
While the school—and the many school-related activity—shutdowns
across the U.S. were tragic, the effects of foolish and unnecessary COVID
policies on small American businesses were even worse. “Learning loss” can be
recovered. Tens of thousands of small businesses destroyed due to the COVID lockdowns
and shutdowns will never return. Barely six months into our COVID hysteria—as
I noted in November of 2020—it was clear that fascist government policies
were devastating small businesses throughout the U.S. As I noted at the time,
In spite of the science and the months of real-time data that proved it
unnecessary, the left has persisted with shutting down businesses and churches.
As a result of these state-enforced lockdowns, hundreds of thousands of small
businesses in the U.S. have shut down—many of them permanently so.
Data from late September show that between
March 1 and August 31, a total of 163,735 businesses on Yelp—which is
especially representative of small businesses—closed. According to Yelp, about
60 percent of these businesses (nearly 98,000) will never reopen. The Yelp data
reveals that small restaurants and retail stores have been hit particularly
hard. It has made zero sense that Walmart, Target, Home Depot—none of whom were
requiring masks as late as middle July—and the like have been allowed to remain
open, while your local diner, gun store, or gym was forced to close.
By June of 2021, COVID shutdowns and lockdowns had destroyed
nearly 40% of U.S. small businesses. As Pajamas Media reported
at the time,
While bureaucrats gave Walmart, Costco, Lowe’s, and
other big-box stores “essential” status, allowing them to stay open during the
COVID pandemic, 38.9% of
America’s small businesses, the providers of most of the country’s jobs,
were forced to close based on fear, hackneyed
social-distancing rules, early ignorance about transmission, and an insatiable
desire by governors to micromanage the affairs of men.
Nothing says “micromanaging the affairs of men” like forcing
men (and women, and children) to take medicine they don’t want or don’t need. Shortly
after COVID-19 began to spread, the rush and the race for a vaccine was on. When
the so-called “vaccines” were announced, government throughout the U.S. could hardly
contain their desire to enact “vaccine” mandates. We were constantly told that
the COVID “vaccines” would actually do what vaccines do: prevent one from
getting what one is vaccinated against.
In early 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci said
that the COVID “vaccines” provide “a 94 to 95 percent efficacy in preventing
clinically recognizable disease.” In a July, 2021 townhall, Joe Biden himself said, “You’re not going to get COVID if you have these
vaccinations.” Natural
immunity was all but ignored, and these deceptions were repeated, or
implied, ad-nauseum. Those bent towards totalitarianism were eager to create
“vaccine” mandates.
These mandates had deadly results. Hospital staff shortages were
created, all-cause
mortality exploded among many groups, and once new COVID variants arose, the
world’s most “vaccinated” countries showed shockingly
high COVID infection rates. We were told that unless populations were
sufficiently “vaccinated,” a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” would result.
Instead, a “pandemic
of the vaccinated” developed.
The cost of the American left’s COVID fascism was not only
measured in trillions of dollars lost, but countless sickness and death as
well. Never forget the COVID fascists who for far too long plagued America.
Most certainly remember them when it comes time to vote. If we don’t hold them
accountable—and most importantly, remove them from power—I
can almost guarantee you that they will do this again when the next
“crisis” arrives.
(See this column at American Thinker and The Blue State Conservative.)
Copyright 2022, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith and
Reason.
www.TrevorGrantThomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com
