The Land of the Free Only if the Home of the Brave

The coronavirus quarantine has suggested to some that we all, finally, are in the same boat. Irrespective of social status or religion or political affiliation, we all are facing the lockdown and its ramifications. We are in the same boat.

If this does not make your cow dung meter go to red, you are not paying attention. We are certainly NOT all in the same boat. Perhaps in the same storm, but some are clinging to a raft in the middle of the ocean while others are comfortably ensconced in a lavish home immune to the elements.

If your paycheck is still direct deposit on Friday, if your health is good, if you have ready access to your basic needs, if your mental approach is strong, then this quarantine may fit the immortal words of Bruce Springsteen: “someday this will all seem funny.

If, however, you have a lump in your breast slowly growing without diagnosis, if you wonder how you will pay the rent, if your dad has been taking batting practice on you, if your job is not coming back…this will never be funny.

Tens and tens of millions are unemployed. Think of the families that represents.

And yet the coronavirus, when controlled for its impact in nursing homes and the New York metropolitan area, has largely left the balance of the country unaffected. 20% of counties have no cases and yet THEIR hospitals are essentially shut down. As are their restaurants and the local furniture store and the Five Below.

We are being treated as sheep. We are citizens, not subjects. We cannot be the land of the free if we are not the home of the brave. The love of big government is destroying our country. Our media brain trust, not really an apt description, lives in and around New York and has been as bad on this issue as they are on most. Our fourth estate is no more. The mainstream media wants this to continue. They want the quarantine. Full stop. They want it to continue. They want it to get worse. By the way, their jobs are secure. For now.

The laws of unintended consequences have not been repealed. The thousands of human tragedies playing out across America as a result of this lockdown render the heart. Or they should. But we have CNN playing gotcha at press conferences while middle America is being targeted by big government elites. 

We are not in the same boat. This is intolerable. You and I have God-given freedoms. These sports stars and artistic performers who encourage us to stay home and be safe are virtue signaling. They are not leaders. They are sycophants. They play games for a living or play dress up or live their lives as if in a school talent show and they have the best voices. Hooray for them. But they don’t know how to run the local Fairfield Inn or start a sub shop or pave a driveway. 

Liberal government and their handmaidens in the media or trampling our freedoms. They are never penalized for overreacting. The doomsayer cannot lose.