THE ENDLESS COVID CRISIS

 No wonder people in Covidland  are confused by ever shifting pronouncements on the pandemic. A few weeks ago when I went to a supermarket on Long Island virtually no one was wearing a mask. Today everyone was sporting one, so I had to go back to the car to search for a mask. There is no point in rocking the boat about this sort of thing. 

A few weeks ago I also had Covid despite having been vaccinated three times. I was sick for a few days and then it went away, but to be on the safe side I quarantined at my country house in order to avoid infecting anyone else. My latest bloodwork now shows I have the antibody. It is quite possible that had I not been so vaccinated it could have been far worse, and I might have wound up in the hospital, or on my way to the Covid underworld.

The Omicron variant is apparently quite contagious, and some sort of response is required. The question is whether extreme regulations are necessary, while also upending various rights. There is no easy answer to this, but clearly this administration is clueless and its vacillation and shifting positions have both confused and alienated the public. If this continues, if you know the Greek alphabet we will soon be nearing Ωmega, or the end, period. 

They came into office blaming the previous administration for the number of apparent Covid deaths, notwithstanding the fact that vaccines were developed in record time and travel restrictions put in place. Yet at the same time they were imposing heavy controls on Americans, in terms of testing, vaccines, and protections, they have allowed a continuing flow of illegal immigrants to enter the country without testing any of them. This is insanity. They claimed they would get control of the epidemic and mitigate its impact, yet last year under their watch the number of deaths exceeded the previous year. 

But the numbers may be exaggerated by other conditions at the time of death, and its attribution to Covid may have something to do with reporting incentives. No one really knows. What the people do know at this point is that very few “leaders” and “experts” really  know what they are talking about, and no one trusts the government any more. 

The severe disruption of many lives due to government policies is incalculable. But few of the people making and supporting these decisions are affected by them.  Those who work for the government, in academia, the media, big corporations, finance, etc. haven’t paid any price. The burden has been born by the working people and industries they are employed in, which have born the brunt of all the attempts to ameliorate the effects of the pandemic. These are mostly small businesses such as restaurants, as well as the hospitality and travel industries. Meanwhile some big businesses have actually benefited. Clearly the effects have been uneven.

In a rational world the government would have targeted expenditures to those actually hurt by the pandemic, like the ones mentioned above. They had real costs and losses due to government policies that were designed to stem the spread of the disease. Instead the government passed out money to everyone, over and over, at far, far greater cost than an intelligent approach would have required. The consequences of this mindless beneficence will be heavy going forward. 

Yet simultaneously this same regime went out of its way to punish people who refuse to comply with its mandates. Not only have a vast number of people lost their jobs as a result, they have even been denied unemployment insurance! Meanwhile the regime’s client teachers union member have continued to be paid in many areas without doing any work.  Different standards for different people; and don’t forget our pampered illegal aliens. This is obscene and is indicative of an administrative state out of control. 

There are some states that have managed to maintain the constitutional freedoms we have inherited, but the federal government is hopelessly incompetent, arbitrary, inconsistent, wasteful, and destructive. 

There is much to be undone here and entire agencies that must be upended and reconstructed, and people needlessly punished must be compensated. That is certainly just and only the beginning steps necessary to restore legitimacy and confidence in this government. Too many of the ruling circles are clueless as to the revolutionary situation they are fomenting on the ground, while at the same time sending out an army of agents to monitor and harass “domestic terrorists” like parents and veterans. 

The people have lost confidence in all our institutions across the board, so what is left? The upcoming election tsunami will be the last chance to address these conditions and urgently implement reforms, for if they fail again this time, life as we have known it in this great republic will be over. 

IS THE SYSTEM RIGGED?

When we hear the “system is rigged” what “system” are we referring to? The idea that there is any kind of overall “system” is a nebulous concept that went out with Marx. It is like saying that life is rigged. That is not to say there are not particular systems, such as the political system or electoral system, so the question at this time is really whether those are in any way “rigged.” In the US there is no overall national control of elections; nor is there even much in the way of state control. Elections are organized in a myriad of localities, each with its own system so that they cannot possibly be controlled by anyone anywhere. No one can rig that system. This does not mean there is no electoral fraud in some jurisdictions, but it is not widespread enough these days to throw an election, due to so many safeguards and vigilance on both sides.

What about other factors, such as media influence? Here there is clear and obvious bias against Trump, evident no matter what your political persuasion, and to a lesser extent against Republicans generally. This may be unfair but it isn’t rigged.There is definitely a herd mentality, not by any design or collusion, but ideological sympathy, and, more importantly, reliance on the same news sources. There is no question that the execrable New York Times regularly performs front page political hatchet jobs, so when the Times breaks (or fabricates) a “story,” most major media pick up on it because that is where they get much of their news from, especially in New York, still the media capitol.  These days reporters are more likely to be reading the Times than going out and actually finding news themselves. While that may be annoying to the right, the Times has little legitimacy beyond the left and the notion it is the “newspaper of record” is a joke, especially when there is free open competition and something like Fox News can draw more people than the other networks combined. 

But if these things are not exactly rigged, it does not mean the situation is not fair; it isn’t. But life is not fair. Most establishment institutions are against Trump, and elites are virtually united in their opposition to him. This includes those normally associated with the right, such as conservative intellectuals, as well a wholesale desertion of corporate backers not seen since the Goldwater candidacy. Thus the entire establishment is almost completely aligned with Hillary Clinton, whose campaign is flush with cash. So yes, the deck is stacked in this sense, but this is not the same as rigging, or conspiring to steal the election, for the process itself is largely immune to tampering.

Things are going well for these people, who believe they are part of a “meritocracy” and deserve to be where they are, but the only real merit system that exists is in professional sports, and to a lesser extent, science. Instead, these elites are more often people with good social skills, such as sucking up, connecting, networking, and playing the game rather than necessarily being the best at what they do, as well as just plain luck. This conceit also makes them largely oblivious to those who feel the “system” is no longer working for them. 

For what the elites are missing is the depth of the alienation of the working class along with a substantial segment of the middle, who increasingly have lost faith in established institutions, and no longer recognize the country they are living in. They have responded to Trump, who has managed to channel this sentiment  in spite of material provided by the elites, who are baffled by the seeming imperviousness to critical information by a substantial portion of the population. This “revolt of the masses” and Trump’s candidacy meanwhile threatens to delegitimize the whole process and Trumpism, or right-populism, will not disappear after election night. Indeed a more gifted politician could potentially take it over the top, for whatever the election outcome, Trump has succeeded in rattling the system to its core.