by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
A series of "spontaneous" rallies have broken out in a few state capitals, public attempts to pressure governors and legislatures into "reopening" state economies. These events are not, of course, spontaneous, but rather they are carefully planned protests by groups with political agendas using social media to stir people into action.
Michigan has been the epicenter of these ragged affairs over he past week. "Operation Gridlock" was supposed to be an in-car protest of people driving around the capitol building blowing their horns and yelling, but those mobile protesters quickly began parking and congregating, shoulder-to-shoulder, on the capitol grounds. Other groups, including some unsavory militia-type organizations, joined in, turning the entire event into even more of a circus, one with the added excitement not only of guns, but with a deadly communicable disease wafting through the air as well.
The Michigan protest was planned by two political groups: the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group with strong ties to Trump's re-election campaign, and the Michigan Freedom Fund, an organization that Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, describes as being funded "in large part" by the DeVos family, the founders of the Amway pyramid sales scheme.
Governor Whitmer, who has become a personal target of the Michigan protesters, lamented the involvement of Trump's billionaire Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and declared, "I think it's really inappropriate for a sitting member of the United States president's cabinet to be waging political attacks on any governor."
But for the time-being the rabble in Michigan are making noise and putting their own lives and the lives of others at risk, all the while hallucinating that they represent the majority of real Americans. All they want is for someone to flip a switch and return things to normal.
But that isn't going to happen.
Donald Trump is spurring these protests forward with imbecilic tweets about "liberating" various states that happen to have Democratic governors, but even he has set aside the idea of just arbitrarily declaring the economy to be switched back on. Now he wants the governors to take that risky step in his stead - so they can absorb the blame if the death tolls start rising - as will likely happen if the great unwashed (and untested) masses once again begin mingling socially and at work.
Restarting the economy is far more complicated than flipping a switch. Sure, people can be coerced back to work through economic pressures and government policies, but the government lacks to power to get everyone to suddenly start spending again.
Many of us have developed new routines during these days of "social distancing" and we can now go longer without shopping. We also have a clearer understanding of the difference between what we "need" and other things that are unnecessary extravagances. And some of us are becoming a lot more comfortable with shopping on line, a practice that negatively impacts the economy at the local level.
We are going to be far more careful in planning shopping trips regardless of whether the economy switch is "on" or "off," mindful for months and months that the medical crisis could return and that this time we might become victims of the virus. Things like travel will also be delayed. Grandparents have grandchildren who need to be visited. But who among us would risk the health of those grandchildren - or of ourselves - by getting on an airplane too soon when a couple of more weeks or months of separation would make everyone safer?
Flip that switch until it breaks - but some symbolic speech or stunt will not end this social and economic slowdown. For that to happen, confidence in our government and in the health of the nation and of the world will have to rebound. That will take massive amounts of testing and affirmation from real doctors and scientists that the worst is behind us and that it is relatively safe to resume life as normal.
Trump and a bunch of politicians and big political donors may be able to convince Americans with double-digit IQ's that it's safe to resume their old lives, but the rest of us are going to be far more cautious and await hard, scientific proof.
Roll that in your Amway deposit slip and smoke it, Betsy!
Citizen Journalist
A series of "spontaneous" rallies have broken out in a few state capitals, public attempts to pressure governors and legislatures into "reopening" state economies. These events are not, of course, spontaneous, but rather they are carefully planned protests by groups with political agendas using social media to stir people into action.
Michigan has been the epicenter of these ragged affairs over he past week. "Operation Gridlock" was supposed to be an in-car protest of people driving around the capitol building blowing their horns and yelling, but those mobile protesters quickly began parking and congregating, shoulder-to-shoulder, on the capitol grounds. Other groups, including some unsavory militia-type organizations, joined in, turning the entire event into even more of a circus, one with the added excitement not only of guns, but with a deadly communicable disease wafting through the air as well.
The Michigan protest was planned by two political groups: the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group with strong ties to Trump's re-election campaign, and the Michigan Freedom Fund, an organization that Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, describes as being funded "in large part" by the DeVos family, the founders of the Amway pyramid sales scheme.
Governor Whitmer, who has become a personal target of the Michigan protesters, lamented the involvement of Trump's billionaire Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and declared, "I think it's really inappropriate for a sitting member of the United States president's cabinet to be waging political attacks on any governor."
But for the time-being the rabble in Michigan are making noise and putting their own lives and the lives of others at risk, all the while hallucinating that they represent the majority of real Americans. All they want is for someone to flip a switch and return things to normal.
But that isn't going to happen.
Donald Trump is spurring these protests forward with imbecilic tweets about "liberating" various states that happen to have Democratic governors, but even he has set aside the idea of just arbitrarily declaring the economy to be switched back on. Now he wants the governors to take that risky step in his stead - so they can absorb the blame if the death tolls start rising - as will likely happen if the great unwashed (and untested) masses once again begin mingling socially and at work.
Restarting the economy is far more complicated than flipping a switch. Sure, people can be coerced back to work through economic pressures and government policies, but the government lacks to power to get everyone to suddenly start spending again.
Many of us have developed new routines during these days of "social distancing" and we can now go longer without shopping. We also have a clearer understanding of the difference between what we "need" and other things that are unnecessary extravagances. And some of us are becoming a lot more comfortable with shopping on line, a practice that negatively impacts the economy at the local level.
We are going to be far more careful in planning shopping trips regardless of whether the economy switch is "on" or "off," mindful for months and months that the medical crisis could return and that this time we might become victims of the virus. Things like travel will also be delayed. Grandparents have grandchildren who need to be visited. But who among us would risk the health of those grandchildren - or of ourselves - by getting on an airplane too soon when a couple of more weeks or months of separation would make everyone safer?
Flip that switch until it breaks - but some symbolic speech or stunt will not end this social and economic slowdown. For that to happen, confidence in our government and in the health of the nation and of the world will have to rebound. That will take massive amounts of testing and affirmation from real doctors and scientists that the worst is behind us and that it is relatively safe to resume life as normal.
Trump and a bunch of politicians and big political donors may be able to convince Americans with double-digit IQ's that it's safe to resume their old lives, but the rest of us are going to be far more cautious and await hard, scientific proof.
Roll that in your Amway deposit slip and smoke it, Betsy!
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