There’s a scene near the end of the 1980’s miniseries “North and South” where one of the
melodrama’s main characters, Union army General George Hazard, receives a message from a horsebound rider under white flag of truce while commanding a long line of blue clad soldiers positioned opposite a much smaller force of Confederates in an open field (supposedly near Appomattox Court House in central Virginia) in April of 1865. Upon reading the handwritten words on the note, Hazard unsheathed his sidearm and shouts “It’s over!!! Dear God it’s over!!!”, whereupon the Union regiments erupt in joy, tossing kepis in the air while the dejected-looking southern troops remain silent and remorseful upon receiving news of their official surrender. For lovers of authentic history, it’s an ironic scene. Hazard is a fictional character, not based on any historic being that I can think of. The two sides weren’t preparing for battle when the actual capitulation was announced that day in 1865. No one came to the forefront and declared “It’s Over!” to anyone and then rode around with sword on high like a drunken cadet after military school graduation ceremonies. The depiction in the miniseries was about as phony and far removed from what really happened at the end of the Civil War as one could get. But the dramatic portrayal of the final moments of the Civil War reminded me of how Democrats have been acting lately in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Democrat governors by the bucketful finally relenting on stupid mask mandates, it’s as though senile president Joe Biden suddenly appeared among them and declared “It’s OVER!” to the blue state assemblage, causing delirium and celebrations. The “it” being lockdowns, and to some extent, mandates. Biden would never go so far as to retract his vaccine mandate orders. No sir. It would make him look weaker and less in control than he already does (like Canada’s Justin Trudeau). But being clueless and projecting weakness is what the man is good at. He doesn’t look like a buffoon intentionally, but the results are all the same. Is Biden truly unprepared? Naomi Lim reported at The Washington Examiner:
“Biden being out of sync with Democrat governors, even a growing number of members of Congress, reflects newfound cautiousness after he set unrealistic expectations last year about how COVID-19 shots would return the public to a semblance of normal. Instead, the president's ‘summer of freedom’ was followed by his warning of ‘a winter of severe illness and death’ for the unvaccinated... “The pandemic is not the only example of Biden being caught flat-footed in a response. Other instances include inflation and crime. ‘There is no Harry Potter wand’ Biden can use to address inflation, now at a 40-year record of 7.5%, according to Pitney. The Claremont McKenna College politics professor cited Richard Nixon's unsuccessful and Ronald Reagan's painful attempts to de-escalate rising consumer prices. “But Biden's problem stems from his delay in recognizing inflation as a concern, he and his aides seeming out of touch when they described the phenomenon as ‘transitory.’ The White House contends that Biden's hands are tied, too, with respect to crime as Republicans amplify recent violent offense spikes in 14 Democratic-run cities.”
Watching the news lately, it’s evident that Democrats are every bit as anxious as everyone else to mount a proverbial steed and ride through the streets of crime ridden major cities exclaiming to all within earshot that “It’s over!” just like George Hazard did in a screenwriter’s imagination -- bringing a conclusion to the pandemic restrictions and inflation and crime that’s plaguing everyone in those blighted locales whether they supported the awful Democrat regimes or not. Tucker Carlson surmised on his show last week that Democrats must’ve been getting such awful internal polling numbers that the results motivated them to start paring back all the government restrictions in earnest, basically defying poor senile Joe Biden and Jen Psaki, who were stuck holding the CDC’s bag by encouraging everyone to stay the course and dutifully wear a mask like the federal health authority still recommends -- until the emergency is over. We all know it’s a farce. Not only do the masks do little if anything to prevent the spread of COVID, they maintain the false impression that the government is acting on our (the citizens’) behalf to “keep us safe”. Again, as has been true since day one of this “pandemic”, if half the folks who contract the CCP (Chinese Communist Party, or Wuhan, if you prefer) virus are asymptomatic and unaware that they’re carrying anything, what good does it do to try and “stop the spread”? Testing asymptomatic individuals is absurd and creates the types of problems encountered in the NFL this past season when entire teams were practically leveled by positive tests of players who weren’t sick. The Rams and Bengals played in the Super Bowl on Sunday, but who knows if they would’ve even been there if certain teams hadn’t been punished through no fault of their own and lost games that could’ve improved their standing.
The lockdowns defied common sense. Assuming that you’re not wearing a mask in your own household or taking a spray bottle filled with Lysol and cleaning every surface you come in contact with -- all day and night long -- those asymptomatic people are sharing the virus with everyone in their environment, who then take it with them to school, work, Taco Bell or wherever they find themselves during the day.
Perhaps some of those fights on airplanes wouldn’t happen any longer if senile Joe opened up the sunroof to his presidential limousine and rode through the streets of Washington and every other city he visited shouting “It’s over!” while holding up a syringe and vial of vaccine instead of drawing his sword like General Hazard at Appomattox in “North and South”.
If indeed Democrats are finally coming to the realization that treating American citizens like rats in a maze isn’t a political winner for them, you can’t help but sense it’s too late. Many times, I’ve argued that far off elections aren’t indelibly affected by singular events on any particular day or month, but it’s highly doubtful that people would move past and forget the COVID ordeal. Too much has happened, too many lives have been inexorably altered and the scars are too noticeable for Democrats to get away with it.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that Democrats demagogued the issue to death (pardon the pun) in the leadup to the 2020 election. I recall a conversation I had with a Trump-bashing acquaintance at the time who took the liberal party line and said things like, “If Trump had only taken the pandemic seriously from the beginning and imposed greater restrictions we wouldn’t be in this mess. And lots of people would still be alive. Trump has blood on his hands.”
Horsepucky. Hindsight is always 20-20, but harkening back to those early days two years ago, Trump was right and tyrannical blue state governors were wrong. Media star New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent infected patients into nursing homes. Governor Gavin Newsom locked down all of California -- for what?
The federal government filled the breach with borrowed money to pay unemployment to those displaced by the orders. Then checks were sent to everyone as “stimulus” to make sure the economy didn’t crash. Businesses were given “loans” that they didn’t have to pay back if they retained a certain portion of their employees. “Experts” said the spending was necessary… which was probably true, but were the health orders?
Americans aren’t likely to disregard the time they spent away from family and friends. They won’t put aside the meetings in front yards because they couldn’t go in and sit on the neighbor’s couch. They won’t forgive the holidays observed in separate locations or the zoom calls substituting for hugs and human contact. They won’t forgive the lies and distortions of officials and the hypocrisy “laws for thee, not for me” elitist attitudes.
Nor will they easily discount the awful and lingering side effects of the irresponsible federal and state policies. How about the inflation that’s visible everywhere? Heck, even obnoxious Joe Biden supporting rapper Cardi B commented “Everything is high” last week. She wasn’t talking about one of her wild parties, either.
Similarly, residents of inner cities aren’t likely to overlook the noticeable spike in crime since the pandemic struck and the George Floyd riots spread across America, empowering criminals and miscreants to cower under the guise of “protesting” to commit arson, theft and murder. As Ted Cruz pointed out, every single one of the municipalities seeing big jumps in the homicide rate are run by Democrats.
Despite what Democrats may think, Americans aren’t ignorant and tolerant of leaders who mislead them for political purposes. No amount of Democrats declaring “It’s over!!!” will displace the intense anger and resentment that the COVID episode produced. Voters will be more than prepared to express their feelings at the ballot box come November.
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