Democrats, thy name is Tyranny!

Channeling Jonathon Swift, Christopher Paslay has penned a satirical piece at the American Thinker today entitled You're Nonessential - Keep Your Mouth Shut in which he posits that there are now two Americas; one composed of essential "heros" and the other of nonessential nobodies. This reminds of Jonathon Swift's famous satire A Modest Proposal during the Irish Potato Famine.

Paslay's article similarly proposes that those not named as "nonessential workers" should accept their fate and just go away:

COVID-19 America has realigned itself into a two-part caste system, one made up of the essential hero, and the other comprised of the selfish, nonessential coward. Essential heroes, like those who work in grocery stores, hospitals, Walmarts, and deliver for Amazon, are deserving of our admiration and praise. They risk their lives every day so we can have food, medical care, Egyptian bath towels, and cute panda knickknacks. And by “risk their lives,” I mean that if they are under the age of 60 and do not have an underlying medical condition, they may get a dry cough, runny nose, body aches, and be in bed for a week or so.

My wife is one of these essential workers. She’s a clinician at a small hospital in Philadelphia, where dozens of people have tested positive for COVID-19. In the middle of April she too tested positive, and subsequently gave the virus to me. Luckily, our symptoms were minor (she had a dry cough for a day, and I had lethargy and body aches for about a week), and we quickly recovered. When my wife returned to work after her 14-day quarantine, there was a big sign on the front lawn that read, Heroes Work Here. Although she was completely recovered and COVID-free, she still had to take a deep breath to keep from vomiting.

...snip...

Not everybody is an essential worker, of course. Not everybody is worthy of keeping their job and livelihood, their salary and benefits, their ability to provide for their family. Many people in America -- some 36 million and counting -- are nonessential workers. And these people -- just let me tell you -- the nerve of them. They actually want to count too! They actually want to be able to make a living? Ha! That’s funny. Our government, and all of our really smart scientists like Dr. Fauci, have already been through this a hundred times. Nonessential workers, and their means of making a living, are not important or “safe.” Their businesses, churches, goods and services, don’t count. Their physical and mental well-being, and that of their loved ones, must be sacrificed to allow the real heroes to carry on being heroes, and doing the difficult work of getting paid and supporting their families. It’s already been decided by the governors, like Gretchen Whitmer, and Gavin Newsom, and Tom Wolf, and Tony Evers.

Of course, it gets better. I have made the point before that every business is essential to those employed by it, which is true enough. But even more so, every business that is successfully making a profit for its owner is essential to someone. Tattoo parlors? Some people want tattoos, and are willing to pay for them. I don't get it, but I don't have to, do I? But I could use a hair cut right about now, so to me a barber shop is essential.

The economy is actually a complex and chaotic environment in which pricing determines where resources will go.  It is too chaotic for a mere cabal of  "experts" to determine.  How many cars should be produced this year?  What if, instead of cars, the market demand is for vans to carry goods and equipment, but the "experts" didn't plan for that?  What you get is the old Soviet Union and their  5 Year Plans.  But not a single 5 Year Plan was ever successful.  They routinely had to purchase grains and other goods from the West because their ambitious 5 year plans failed to deliver.

Oh, and the Dow Jones averages, the Nasdaq and other indexes are crude measurements of a part of the economy, they are not THE economy.  While these indexes do reveal what people who are willing to risk their money on important parts of the price driven markets, even they should not be taken as gospel.

Which gets me to our own Gov. Andrew Cuomo "mini me" Roy Cooper, who graciously decided not to appeal a Federal judges's ruling that his disparate treatment of churches and retail outlets was discriminatory.  Thank you sir and can we have another?  Of course, we will have to observe social distancing and the wearing of face diapers...er...masks. Cooper has not been quite as draconian as Cuomo, but he has been bad enough. It amazes me that so many go along with his diktats, despite evidence that most of it is arbitrary. Instead of taking in the expert opinions and data, then make rational decisions for themselves as adults, people seem to e satisfied with being treated as if they were children.  I have to confess to having a similar experience to Douglas Flint in a post at the American Thinker entitled A Better Name For Covid-19 Masks:

It was the first truly warm sunny spring day in the Northern Virginia area, so I was thrilled to fire up the Triumph Bonneville for the 25-minute ride to work. There weren't many people out at 6:30 A.M., and I needed to focus on my riding skills, so I wasn't doing any sight-seeing. But by evening, with temperatures in the eighties and the sun still well up in the sky, there was time to take in the view of a beautiful spring afternoon with the population coming out of hiding.

A motorcycle, especially one with an upright sitting position, gives you an unmatched view of the world around. You actually look down into cars. It would have been beautiful, except that everywhere I looked, I saw the absurdity of the face masks that seem to be growing larger by the hour. Was that a beautiful woman alone in a BMW convertible, top down, with a mask on? Everywhere along open paths and sidewalks, people were walking, jogging, running, and pedaling furiously, all with masks on. Some of the masks had grown so large that they covered from the chin to just under the eyes. And then it dawned on me: "FACE DIAPER!" And I couldn't stop laughing. Seriously, I nearly dumped my motorcycle.

The naming of essential heros and nonessential deplorables, along with the enforcement of the masks as a visible symbol of virtue is of a piece that make up the Democrats' police state tyranny. And it will continue until we the people in large enough numbers tell our "elite" that enough is enough!