On Oct. 30, 2020, just days before the presidential election, Joe Biden tweeted, “I’m not going to shut down the country. I’m not going to shut down the economy. I’m going to shut down the virus.”
This was a lie.
It was a lie because nobody can shut down the virus.
The government does not have the power to end disease, as a general matter. When it comes to a wildly transmissible coronavirus specifically, no government can end the virus. Even the sainted Dr. Anthony Fauci has admitted as much: “we’re never going to eradicate this … elimination may be too aspirational.”
This means that government should not aim for elimination; it can aim for some level of control. That control must be balanced with countervailing concerns, ranging from suppression of economic freedom to the effects of social isolation. This means that the lowest-cost intervention was the incentivization and distribution of vaccines — a service performed by the Trump administration. The worst form of control would be overbroad, coercive restrictions that fail to achieve their objectives.
And yet it is precisely those forms of control now being sought by Democratic mayors and governors, as well as the Biden administration. To make such tactics even more puzzling, Democrats are pursuing such restrictions in the face of an extraordinarily transmissible variant — some 70 times more transmissible than delta — that has far lower death rates than prior variants.
Such restrictions include vaccination passports, mask mandates, mass testing, and vaccination mandates. Vaccination passports will not control the spread of omicron, because the vaccinated are capable of spreading COVID-19. Mask mandates will not stop the spread of omicron; nothing short of N95 masks would do much to even slow that spread, even theoretically. In practice, mask mandates have not achieved their desired effect, as omicron spikes in places like New York City demonstrate. Mass testing will not control the spread of omicron, because asymptomatic people will not test — and if we quarantine millions of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic people, we will shut down the economy and our school system. And vaccination mandates will simply result in supply chain shortages, including within our health care system, as well as ugly social divisions.
So, why pursue useless — no, counterproductive — COVID-19 restrictions?
Because the big-government lie must be maintained. It is an article of faith. And faith requires reason-free sacrifice — it requires skin in the game, demonstration of devotion. To pursue rational policy would evidence no fealty to the notion of government-as-protective-god. To pursue irrational policy and then demand obeisance — this is the mark of the faithful. And if you are not faithful, you are a heretic.
And so regulatory genuflection becomes a test of virtue. Effectuating strict regulations is a sign of moral strength, of belief in the myth of government as catholicon. Pushing back against those restrictions is a sign of heresy.
On Oct. 22, 2020, in a debate with President Donald Trump, Biden said that “anyone who is responsible for not taking control … anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America.” This was incorrect. The truth is that anyone who claimed that he could take control of a virus should be held responsible for the consequences of that lie.
But that will only happen when Americans abandon the cultic worship of government and return to reality. And Biden and Democrats will fight such blasphemy with every weapon in their arsenal.
Copyright 2022 Creators.com
Great article Ben. I really enjoy reading your articles because they are truthful. You are saying things that many want to say but are afraid to say because of the “bully” mentality of the left. I honestly believe that Joe Biden is an evil man that would betray his mother for a dollar! The AOC’s and Omar’s and Tlaib’s of this world are communist plants in this Country and are an insult to our Country. I believe the survival of this Country rests on the 2022 election. But by using this virus the evil left will do their best to institute mail-in voting again and amnesty for all these illegals flooding across the border to insure victory. There will be a tipping point that will set off another civil war in this Country. Most likely when they try enforcing firearm confiscation. I have spoken with many gun owners who have adamantly said they under any circumstances would give up their right to bear arms. If the left are victorious in 2022, this I believe is inevitable. Keep those great articles coming. They are encouraging, enlightening and “needed for a time such as this!”