We keep hearing from the media that governors who want to reopen the economy are prioritizing money over lives. What they’re really doing is putting the long-term health and prosperity of the nation ahead of virtue signaling and political talking points.
Let me tell you, that takes guts and smart decision-making since they will surely be nailed to their very own political cross if they’re wrong.
Look at it this way. If we open up too soon, we risk a relapse of the pandemic and lives. If we wait too long, we risk a protracted recession or even depression, which can end up taking many more lives. I’m not sure we’re not already heading there.
Of course the answer to any apparent catch-22 like this is to understand that it’s not really a dilemma. Somebody has to go first. You open up slowly and methodically — under strict conditions and guidelines – and move it along if the data looks good. If not, you pull back.
It isn’t rocket science, folks.
One of the questions we should be asking ourselves is who exactly is incentivized to stoke this sort of divisive commentary? Said another way, who benefits from extending the coronavirus crisis, the economic shutdown and the great human isolation experiment?
Wait, I bet I know what some of you are thinking. How cynical do you have to be to even consider the possibility that anyone would actually want this mess to continue?
Turns out, not very.
First, we have the left. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying anyone on the left wants people to be infected and die. Of course not. What I’m saying is that the longer this goes on and the worse it gets, the better the Dem’s chances are of hanging it around the GOP’s neck and winning in November. I mean, that’s sort of obvious.
Also keep in mind that politicians on both sides of the isle are not the ones who are losing their jobs.
Then we have the media. Talk about post-pandemic job security. What’s the one thing that every single one of us has been doing since the day this all started? That’s right, watching the news. The 24×7 coronavirus news. The media are front and center, getting all the attention. None of them are losing their jobs either.
Lastly we have the elites and their vast estates, their servants, and their enormous double-wide Subzero refrigerators full of countless flavors of specialty ice cream.
I can go on but you get the point. None of these groups are at risk. And none of them have a vested interest in giving the American people back their human rights, letting us out of our domicile dungeons and getting us back to work.
Look, this is actually pretty straightforward. America is a prosperous nation because of its economic and entrepreneurial success. That’s why we can go to bed at night knowing that we will never lose our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The thing is, you can’t shut down the economy for long and expect to maintain those inalienable rights.
Image credit Alan Levine / Flickr