The worst consequence of the Wuhan Coronavirus is that it has seemingly infected politicians of all types with the ultimate disease: socialism. The Wuhan Coronavirus (COVID-19) has all but consumed the entire world since being discovered in late 2019. To date, it has spread to people in nearly every state on Earth. There are now more than 185,000 confirmed cases and over 7,300 deaths due to COVID-19, according to the up to date Johns Hopkins website . The virus was reportedly born in Wuhan, China in October or November, allegedly from bats. There is ample skepticism regarding its origin and the honesty of the Chinese government’s official story.
In response to the flu-like virus which appears to be moderately contagious, even Republican politicians in DC have embraced anti-freedom policies. And they are just getting started. On March 7th, President Trump signed an $8.3 billion spending bill to help combat the virus and to subsidize the research for a vaccine and a cure. Of course, private businesses already have all the incentive they need to try as hard as they can to stop the disease from becoming a pandemic:
1) Businesses understand that if everyone in the world died, they’d have no more customers.
2) Businesses want to make money, and the first one to find a vaccine or an effective treatment will cash in tremendously for their efforts.
3) Businesses do want to be known as altruistic entities that improve and help society.
Yangist socialism?
Along with many others, Republican Senator Mitt Romney reportedly supports taxing and then giving Americans $1,000 of their money, much like the ridiculous Yang plan. In fact, Andrew Yang, the progressive Democrat presidential candidate who was made famous by his idea of taxing people an extra 10k, giving it back to them, and calling it altruism is now working with Trump on that exact policy. No Republicans have come out in opposition to this plan yet, to our knowledge. If you are wondering how a government $23 trillion in debt can spend trillions more on a whim, that makes two of us.
Trump finally passing paid sick leave?
Largely due to advocacy by Ivanka Trump, the administration has wished for a federal paid family medical leave program since 2016. Proponents of such programs argue that no person should suffer due to being home from work due to a sickness, injury, or pregnancy within their household. Many people sympathize with such predicaments, but only socialists believe that politicians should take money from people and redistribute it to others under the guise of ‘paid family leave’. Despite all of the opposition from the communist left, Donald Trump will likely use the Coronavirus as justification for implementing a national paid family leave program, which would place yet another heavy burden on taxpayers and/or the national debt. There is no question that Democrats would support any sort of welfare program, but some conservatives might be surprised to learn that nearly every Republican in DC supports the new socialist idea, in some form or another. “I fully support H.R. 6201: Families First CoronaVirus Response Act, which will be voted on in the House this evening. This Bill will follow my direction for free CoronaVirus tests, and paid sick leave for our impacted American workers.”, said President Trump of his support for taxpayer-funded paid family leave. H. R. 6201 only has some 20,000 words, so it should be easy for you to read it and tell your Congressmen how you feel about the bill.
This Congressman – and many others – have fully embraced socialism
Cash for failing companies; another bailout?
It seems that Trump and every other politician is supporting or at least considering bailing out industries such as airlines, cruises, casinos, and any other industry that is hurting due to the virus, possibly to the tune of trillions of dollars. Congressional Democrats want the bailout bill to have “at least $750 billion” in subsidies for failing companies, according to NBC. Look for a repeat of the 2008 bailouts, which were supported by all but a few politicians but have since become remarkably unpopular. In 10 years, every politician will claim that they opposed the 2020 COVID bailouts, too.
Crippling commerce
City and State governments throughout the US are passing laws that prohibit all dining, and in some cases, all gatherings of more than a handful of people. Nevermind that pesky first amendment crap about ‘the right to assembly’. Every intellectual knows that the Constitution does not apply whenever there is a virus in existence. On Monday, New Hampshire joined WA, NY, NJ, CT, MA, and numerous other states which have made dining illegal when Governor Sununu made an executive order which may destroy New Hampshire’s major hospitality industry. Fortunately, pro-freedom granite staters have already filed a law suit to stop this exaggerated executive order. Always keen to take authoritarian edicts further than anyone else, NYC mayor, Bill Deblasio is now considering a complete lockdown, meaning that it would be a crime for any person to leave their home. If NYC does go through with this plan, expect NY State, NJ, CT, and the rest of the US to follow suit.
Gun Control due to a national emergency?
Shortly after Hurricane Katrina displaced many citizens in Louisiana in 2005, the national guard was deployed to the New Orleans area to ‘maintain order amid an emergency’. Part of maintaining order, according to the government, is making sure that no civilians are armed. Considering that COVID-19 has already caused exponentially more panic throughout the US than Hurricane Katrina did, we must consider whether FEMA, National Guards, or other law enforcement may soon be deployed to large cities to ‘maintain order’. Some cities have already banned the sale of firearms and ammunition.
Good relief
Some sources say that the US government may be considering payroll tax cuts in order to help private businesses mitigate the lost revenue caused by the virus. This is a wonderful idea, but the tax cuts must apply to all industries in the US, otherwise favoritism would be inevitable. The US government should also deregulate the medical industry massively, so that private doctors, researchers, and businesses could search for and develop vaccines and treatments without the tremendous restrictions they currently deal with. The FDA alone forces pharmaceutical businesses to spend $2.7 billion and 12 years to bring each new medication to the market.
What should the government do?
There is no simple solution to solving the COVID-19 issue. Whenever there is no simple solution, the best clinicians do nothing. They take a breath, remind themselves of their oath to ‘first, do no harm’, and then they help however they can. Politicians should do nothing. They should relax, take a breath, and then help where possible. They can help Americans and foreigners mitigate this moderately-concerning virus by non-coercively recommending that people wash their hands more and touch their faces less. They can significantly accelerate the development of a vaccine and a cure to the virus by gutting regulations and taxes on pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and laboratories throughout the US. The last thing Americans should do is grant politicians the power to take our money and our freedom and provide us with socialist policies such as ‘universal healthcare’.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views held by The Liberty Block or any of its contributors or members.
