The end of our captivity
On Friday, the captivity many of us feel the last year has been with – for the most part – be over in many ways. Life will return to some semblance of normality with the opening of various establishments, and lifting of other restrictions. Ours is not to enumerate those things allowed under Gov. Ned Lamont’s order, but to make a much broader, and, we hope, heard point.
Since March of 2020, the people of the United States, particularly in our part of the nation, have surrendered our liberty and our self-reliance on those whom some regarded as experts in certain fields. It was they who determined what should be closed, who was necessary, who was expendable, and how life was to be lived over the course of this pandemic. Never in our history was the country shut down and large cities turned into ghost towns. We did this because we allowed it. We acquiesced to those who had post-nominals following their surnames and gave them almost cult-like obedience.
Families lost their livelihoods, citizens shut themselves off from the outside world. Schools, factories, businesses were closed, and many will never reopen. All of this happened because we were told – and allowed ourselves to be convinced – that the experts had our best interest at heart.
Almost from the beginning, however, we should have known what many less-trusting souls thought all along: the situation is serious, but the proposed solution is the most devastating a nation could ever undergo. But we went along, driven by a media that ran daily death totals and sick counts. “Panic Porn” is the moniker it gets, and it is well deserved. We now know those death tolls were inflated. Even the CDC acknowledges many who died “with” COVID were listed as died “of” COVID.
What was supposed to be a two-week shutdown turned into one lasting 53 weeks, and the question must be asked: why? Experts told us this was necessary. Yet, those same experts had incorrect data almost from the first.
~~ An expert at the Imperial War College, London, came up with the projection that hundreds of millions would die in the pandemic within weeks. Those projections were found to be faulty, and he lost his position. But the entire premise of the shutdown was based on this computer model, and despite its being incorrect, it set the tone for what was to follow. Hundreds of thousands did die, many at the hands of bad decision-making.
~~ The lionized Dr. Anthony Fauci has had a litany of gaffes, misstatements, and lies that would have had anyone else discredited and finding other work. But, propped up by politicians and media, Fauci is still considered the top dog in the nation’s response. And remember, he wanted Americans to “do what your told,” as if he earned the right.
~~ Experts shamed and shunned those who professionals – experts in their own right – who believed Hydroxychloroquine was an effective remedy. The media shouted and scorned. People lost their jobs. Now we find out the professionals right, and the experts wrong. Why?
~~ Even in our own state, much of the decision-making was dependent on the word of crackpot Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Democratic apparatchik Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel at one point was espousing keeping the state shut through much of this year.
As we get further away from this pandemic, and get back to normal, we must defy those “experts,” including politicians who want a “new normal,” or who wish to dictate rather than lead. Much of what they decided has been arbitrary and was an exercise in control rather than prevention.
We cannot let this happen again. This was a guessing game, with people’s lives in the balance. It was based on wrong premises, wrong information, and an adherence to a prescribed narrative that would not allow for adaptation.
Franklin was right: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”