Goodbye COVID Oppression, Hello ‘Amnesty’

Despite initial alarm fueled by official proclamations and apocalyptic media reports, the general public’s attitudes toward COVID-19 began shifting fairly early in the pandemic – with good reason. After all, it was they who were most grievously affected by government-imposed restrictions, mandates and shutdowns.

Recently, though, as more research and data became public, official positions began to change, too.

A Cochrane Report revealed that mask mandates and the masks themselves, were ineffective at stopping the spread of the virus; two federal agencies – the Department of Energy and the FBI – now say the Wuhan “lab leak” origination hypothesis is most likely correct; Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files” are revealing state-sponsored online and social media censorship of factual information that contradicted “official” COVID policy; Dr. Anthony Fauci has admitted the shortcomings of the mRNA vaccines; and government-affiliated national media have begun running stories questioning the effectiveness of lockdowns.

In other words, almost everything that got skeptics banned from social media and shunned by polite society has become fair game for news coverage and public discussion.

We are learning that official reactions to and policies to “control” the virus were mistakes, much of what government told us about the virus and its origins were false – and that COVID money was spent, that freedoms, jobs, education, lives, and families were lost unnecessarily.

Moreover, things that government and social media declared “misinformation” were factual, and allegations liberal media dismissed as “conspiracy theories” have been proven true.

In fact, other than personal hygiene and measures to protect at-risk elderly and vulnerable younger people, COVID-19 never merited special restrictions, mandates, lockdowns – or fear.

The emerging information will make no difference to mask-wearing COVID Cassandras who are on their fourth or fifth boosters, but people who were unconvinced about the wisdom and effectiveness of draconian government-imposed measures now know that the skeptics were right from the beginning. Brutal government overreactions never stood a chance of controlling the virus.

A one-line bill ending the COVID national emergency passed the U.S. House of Representatives in February and the Senate in early April. Republicans control the House and Democrats the Senate, so the action is bipartisan. President(ish) Joe Biden said he would not veto the bill when it reaches his desk, so the expiration of the national emergency, already scheduled for May 11, is at hand – after “only” 3-plus years!

But, why end it now? Alarmists say “highly transmissible, vaccine-resistant variants” are still out there.

The tell appeared at a liberal outlet, The Atlantic, in an article calling for “…A Pandemic Amnesty.” The writer argued that, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, officials had only overreacted and imposed meaningless “remedies” because good information was unavailable, and, now that we know more, rather than pointing fingers and assigning blame, we should declare a “COVID amnesty.”

But, amnesty for whom?

Remember, at the start of COVID alarmism and prior to the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump proposed a modest “15 days to slow the spread” before relinquishing COVID policy to the states. Accordingly, Democrats – most notably Trump’s successor who repeatedly extended the national emergency, dictatorial blue state governors and blue city mayors – are seen as the party that mandated and enforced lockdowns, masks, and vaccines, following which they, along with party propagandists in national and social media, ridiculed, even cancelled their critics, and suppressed factual information that questioned or disputed their policies and mandates.

It was primarily Democrats who extended “15 days” to months and then years. It is they who bear responsibility for over-long periods of social isolation, and for the sharp declines in education, mental health and the economy.

Today, the Congress is divided; Mr. Biden’s approval ratings are circling the bowl; Democrat governors, Democrat-controlled state legislatures and big-city Democrat mayors are coming under fire; and trust in national media has tanked. Democrats fear electoral, possibly legal retribution for their transgressions.

A COVID amnesty would benefit Democrats and the party’s media propagandists, both of whom hope that ending the emergency – and amnesty – now would allow them to rebuild credibility and render their COVID blunders moot before the 2024 election, or, at the very least, give their base and independent voters enough time to forget what elected Democrats have done to them, their families, their schools, the economy, and to the nation.

Call me cynical, but, in politics, cynicism is almost always rewarded.

https://www.pottsmerc.com/2023/04/10/jerry-shenk-goodbye-covid-19-oppression-hello-amnesty/