An Idiots Guide to COVID-Politics Coronalie-18

As of 8/30/20, the number of cases and the reported case fatality rate are declining, but restrictions on personal and social liberties continue and in some cases are worsening. (As usual, State, number of reported deaths/total positive tests=reported case fatality rate)

Texas 12,919/637,721 = 2%
Kansas 456/42,962 = 1.1%
Missouri 1,562/86,738 = 1.8%

US 184,689/6,075,650 = 3.3%
Total 857413/25769252 = 3.3%

All of these numbers are down from the 6+ percent we saw a few months ago.

Conservative vs liberal definitions are restated here (and others scattered through out the text), to insure that everyone is working with the same tools. Modern dictionaries have allowed the encroachment of political correctness and revisionism and I choose to rely on my tried and true experience.

Conservative politics is when the core belief is that all rights of an individual are given, first to the state and lastly to the federal government. The individual conserves the power to determine where rights are granted.

Liberal politics is when the individual grants the federal government the right to determine all powers over the individual and the state. State powers are subject to the federal government’s will to grant them. The individual liberally grants others rights.

For the most part, Republicans are conservative and Democrats are liberal, but there are degrees and, there are categories. For instance, one might be fiscally conservative and socially liberal (e.g.; not letting the federal government control taxes and control the economy but letting it control social values and practices).

Who would have thought 1 year ago that we would be living in the condition America is in today. Covanvirus has wrecked havoc on our culture, economy, society, family and every other aspect of our existence. Even our sex lives are being threatened.1 But really, coronavirus hasn’t done a thing to our culture. It’s been the politicians and experts that have wrecked havoc.

Sure, nothing is as constant in our lives as the presence of change, but the degree of change we have experienced since March of 2020 is unprecedented. I think that even in times such as the period immediately after the revolutionary war, the civil war, the world wars there were changes to a lessor degree. Why? Because, in those situations, the populous was under stress of living under adverse conditions or threat thereof for a period of several years before the changes were affected and the changes striven for were wanted. In today’s situation, we were living in bliss ( at least comparatively speaking if not in fact) when the rug of our world was jerked out from under us. Unlike the magicians table of glassware, our existence took a tumble and chaos has erupted. How so, you ask?

Travel restrictions were implemented. It was recognized that the novel coronavirsus outbreak seemed to come from China. Immediate travel restrictions were implemented, or at least discussed. In most cases, the restrictions were too late to prevent the spread of the disease, if in fact it was possible to restrict the spread. At this point, there was no factual information (discounting conspiracy theories) available yet governments felt the need to restrict travel to protect the masses. Restricting travel affected the economy of the world, nations, states, families and individuals. We don’t live in a bubble, almost every one of us is involved in the world’s economy in some small fashion. When one falters, so does the other.

Then came the restrictions on our personal local-travel liberties. The reside in place orders, the quarantines, 6′ anti-social distancing, cancellations of mass gatherings like churches that may have had even less than 20 in their congregation. Cancellation of school, sports events, personal sports and exercise gatherings, cancelling of personal hygiene and grooming outside the home, restricted shopping, even for necessities of daily living.

I will use the term quarantine as a catch-all phrase for all stay-at-home-like orders, even though it’s true definition is totally different, literary license at my whim. We were not even allowed to go to work. Except for critical industries that included alcohol, pharmacies, prostitutes, drug suppliers. Churches, schools and businesses not deemed to be critical were not allowed face to face encounters. Even to the point of threatened fines if caught disobeying. So, if the employees can’t go to work, the business can’t make money. If the business can’t make money the employees can’t get paid. No work means no income. No income means reliance on government subsistence or resorting to theft, robbery and crime. But, no work also means the government has no income either! So where does the government get the money it pays to those on subsistence? From other government programs felt able to be raped for their funding. De-funding unpopular programs. Hummmm….

No work also leads to shortages of goods and services. If industry isn’t producing, employees can’t go to work, products that aren’t being made, purchased or otherwise obtained and that can’t be sold, shipped or provided can’t provide income. We’ll just have to tighten our belts and suffer for the common good. Isn’t that what communism is all about, anyway?

And then there is a blossom of what had already started. Preppers (shouldn’t the word be preparers?) abound. Self reliance and the ability of the individual to fend for themselves. I love to watch the off-grid preppers on YouTube (as if being videotaped and presented to the world is off-grid). Gardens become the in thing. Raising your own food for times when food can’t make it to the grocery shelves, like now. Sure, “knowing ” what’s in the food, or rather knowing what’s not in the food is of modest concern. But most gardeners find quickly that mother nature can devastate a garden in the blink of an eye. Almost as fast as our government can devastate our grocery stores and their supply. Toilet paper anyone? Quickly, the toilet paper industry became a critical industry and now the production is at 60% of the pre-coronavirus levels. But, what do you do with the produce from the garden to last through the year. You can, freeze and store it. I suggest you go to the store and try to buy canning supplies. There are none. Use and hording have gobbled up the limited production of goods not seen used in this quantity since before electricity came to the average house. I’m not even going to go with guns and ammo. What about the people living in urban settings. Are they to go to the back 40 and plow up the field and plant potatoes, corn and beans? Are they to breed, raise, feed, butcher and store their own meats? Maybe hunt Central Park for the wayward deer?

Violence and incivility have, predictably, escalated. The divorce rate is climbing, and it was high before this fiasco. Let’s set aside the riots in Portland, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, New York and other fine locations around the country as being from a different cause. Shoppers coveting the last roll of toilet paper fight in the aisles of Dollar General Stores. Home invasion for theft, rape or other mayhem is so feared it is driving the sales of guns and ammo off the charts (I guess I can’t avoid G&A). Even telephone encounters, when we are lucky enough to talk to a human, have turned bitter, self serving and entitled. And why not, with employee cut backs it is often an hour or more wait to have the phone call answered. And, it’s not a one way street. The callee says to the caller, “Hi, my name is Buffy , how can I direct your call.” Well the callee’s name is really Gertrude Wiggleheimer and with the touch of a button, the caller is sent off into an anonymous vapor of electrons with no where to go. Who knows that Buffy is really Gertrude or to whom to complain.? Secondly, it’ obvious Buffy is going to be of no help other that redirecting the call. So now that we’ve set the mood for the call, how do we proceed? Violence and incivility seem appropriate.

Anarchy is the absence of organized government. This the goal of our purist libertarian friends (do not confuse liberal with libertarian, they are polar opposites).

Socialism is a government who’s goal is that every citizen is to dedicate every effort to the support of the society.

Communism is a government of local socialism. Support of the local community, all else be damned.

Tyranny is a government that has absolute oppressive power.

Fascism, defined by dictionary.com, is a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism. Sounds tyrannical to me.

Architecture, against logic and reason, is subject to revisionist thinking. I mean, the structure’s already built and to change it would be to destroy it, right?

Take works of great architects. Structures were designed to facilitate the flow of traffic in and out as needed by the function of the structure. It might be a church, an office or other government or public building or a sports arena. But now, for security or coronavirus reasons, there is only one entry and one exit. And they have to be separated by some unspecified distance. So, if you park near the entrance, you are clear on the other side of the parking lot from your car when you exit. And that entrance is guarded by a 300 pound previously unemployed high school dropout to insure that you wear your face-covering, wash your hands with an alcohol based disinfectant (and convenient fire starter) and maintain 6′ of antisocial distancing. Is this what Frank Loyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe or our own Harvey Ellis wanted for their legacy. A one way entry through a modified x-ray machine under the glare of suspicious law enforcement officers? Is it any wonder that in the future, people will find hidden tunnels, hidden or unknown entryways that exist in wonderful old buildings? All for the sake of security and coronavirus!

Virtual school requires one parent to be at home with the student(s). The parent, often totally ignorant of how to be an educator, how to teach children of various ages and ignorant of much of what has become the standard for education, Core Curriculum. If this parent is at home with the child, attending to the learning process, then by definition they are not working. What of the families that have had to have 2 adults earning income to survive. Back to the economy and how the powers that be have foisted great burdens on the populous with the stroke of a pen. Some families have resorted to communal day care settings to care for their home schooled child(ren). Something like a school, only different. Or Grandparents are recruited to fulfill the task. They must be up on the latest in home schooling. Schools have many purposes to satisfy. One of them is the socialization of the student. No, not socialization as in turning the student into a socialist but the teaching of how a young person is to behave in a group of like individuals. Other than their family that they’ve already figured out, but now they must learn how to survive and function if a heterogeneous society and “make something of themselves”. What is appropriate behavior under given circumstances and what is not. And remember, parents lie.

How much does it cost to teach a child in a brick-and-mortar school, attending classes during the day, 5 days a week? What does it cost in a virtual school? One cost is that this would be a great time to be a computer-tech-programmer person, of which there is an immediate shortage, as well as a shortage of computer laptops, servers and support equipment. Did you know that there are areas in the US that have no DSL, cable or satellite service? In other words, the student has no access to the internet and can, therefore, not participate in a virtual class.

Surely, you’ve seen the reports of the struggles that the personal service industry has had with the coronavirus quarantine? I’m talking about exercise facilities, boutiques, hair and nail salons, etc. Local and state governments have restricted their operation, reduced their production, changed their operating flow and quantity and even shut them down completely. Except for the privileged class. The Honorable Nancy Pelosi had a visit for herself at a local salon in San Francisco, getting a “wash and blow dry” when most of her constituents are at home alone and restricted from obtaining the same services for themselves. This is the same senator that used government funded airplanes to shuttle her and her family around the globe for family, business and vacation.2

Anybody remember the wheat embargo to Russia, the naked store shelves and the long lines and long waits in Russia for basic food, goods and services? I do and you can read about them here. And here.

If you want a accurate run down in short form about the rise and fall of Russia, go here. The following images are from Russia circa 1980-1990.

So, now we get to the crux of the matter. I was doing some brief shopping at a local Walmart and I encounter empty shelves. Yes, you read that right, empty shelves!

Sam Walton is rolling over in his grave like a spinner on the 4th of July. Sam Walton, founder of the Walmart system, is the iconic figure and guru for retail sales in the US, well probably world wide. Whether or not you like Walmart or not, it’s a fact. His philosophy was to give the customer what they want at a ridiculously low price and make your profit on volume, not not price margin. It was unheard of in the 1950s when he started it. He took the standard general store and packed it with everything he could get a good deal on, using aisles and tall shelving and parking lots. His stores grew to dominate the market and put many Mom-and-Pop stores out of business. It seemed like Walmart would take over the world.

But we live in a different time now. K-mart (57 years), Sears (133 years), Dillard’s (82 years), Lord and Taylors (194 years) and many others are in bankruptcy or have closed. All this happened before the coronavirus crisis, sure, but to now to see Walmart with empty shelves is foreboding. I’m not sure if Walmart is reducing stock in expectation of decreased sales or if it can’t get the goods because all of the suppliers employees are at home watching Dialing-for-Dollars because of coronavirus quarantines.

From your grumpy Uncle Dave.

1. Wear a mask during sex, skip kissing, Canada’s top doctor suggests. David Aaro. Fox News, 9/3/20. Retrieved 9/3/20 from https://www.foxnews.com/health/consider-using-mask-sex-skip-kissing-canadas-top-doctor-says
2. Pelosi used shuttered San Francisco hair salon for blow-out, owner calls it ‘slap in the face’. Brooke Singman. Fox News, 9/1/20. Retrieved 9/2/20 from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-san-francisco-hair-salon-owner-calls-it-slap-in-the-face