It's AOC's America Now

Well, how do you like it, so far?

I know some of you voted for Donald Trump in 2016, hoping that he would push back against The Swamp.  Many of my readers think he has actually been doing a pretty good job.  Despite some misgivings about the trade wars, and his penchant for “punching down,” and his periodic idiotic tweets, a lot of things were going pretty well.  The market was at an all time high, unemployment was at a 50 year low, and Trump was unafraid to push back against a media determined to unseat him.  After impeachment failed, the wind was pretty much at our backs.

Yet in the space of a month or so, we’re not actually living in Trump’s America anymore.   We’re living in  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's.  We’re actually living exactly the way the half-wit from the Bronx would like us to live.  Yes, we all rolled our eyes at that semi-educated bartender cum congressional leader when she spewed out nonsensical P.C. /Marxist/Intersectionality dogma sprinkled liberally with Israel hatred.  We guffawed when she unveiled her Green New Deal, which talked about the elimination of air travel.  Yet here we are.  We mocked her embrace of reparations, and her hatred of “profits.” 

But in reality, we’re all now living in her world day-to-day.  And it all happened pretty darn fast.

•  We can’t gather in large groups.  Always the bane of authoritarians, the freedom to assemble has been completely abrogated.
•  CO2 emissions are way down.  There is no air travel to speak of.  Most people are off the road and are working out of their homes.  Industrial production has fallen off a cliff.  COVID19 is the de facto imposition of Green New Deal writ large.  Bloomberg reported today that with fishing fleets grounded, fishing stocks are rebuilding.  Wildlife is beginning to reclaim urban areas abandoned by humans.  The radical green folks are overjoyed.  Humans are subdued.·  
• The much maligned concept of profits?  Don’t worry.  That’s been taken care of.  Profits will be largely nonexistent.  JP Morgan Chase announced a 69% decline in profits.  Others will soon follow as the economy grinds to a halt.  As the lockdown continues, the dirty word of “profit” will soon become something to wax nostalgic about.
•  Shortages of basic goods.  The toilet paper shortage became somewhat of a national joke but other goods are sometimes in short supply.  The shelves in many grocery stores looked like something out of Caracas. 
• Government alone decided what is essential or nonessential activities.  Imagine that- government simply decides what is essential and nonessential to our lives.  Not us.  The State.
• Religion is shut down completely.  Kentucky ticketed and fined attendees and a pastor at a drive-in service. Some Democrats, like Bill DeBlasio have threatened to shut churches down permanently.  Ironically, liquor stores and Planned Parenthood are deemed to be essential services and are allowed to remain open.  Government neglects that for many people, our souls need to be nourished as well as our bodies.
•  AOC and her acolytes have long sought prison reform, and sought to reduce our prison population.  Now, many states are releasing prisoners (with predictable results) to keep them “safe” from COVID19.  Now we are condemned to home confinement, while a good chunk of of the prison population roams free.
•  Tech companies have partnered with the State to keep under surveillance.  City of Chicago admitted as such.  All of us conservatives and libertarians recoiled when we learned that Google assisted China with its surveillance system.  And we worried that it could happen here.  Well, it has.  Government didn’t even have to chip us.  We chipped ourselves with our smart phones.
•  Your $1,200 check is an experiment in Universal Basic Income, a dream of the Left and, now the Leftist Vatican.  Bet it won't stop there.
•   And in a real Stalinist twist, in some states, neighbors are urged to rat out people that do not comply with governments new “rules.
• Anthony Fausi and others are floating the idea of being required to show “immunity app” to be able to travel freely.  It is the modern version of an armband or papers of transit.

Alcohol consumption is up something like 55% and spirits have been deemed an essential business, rivaling the old Soviet Union.  Turning to self-medication in this environment is hardly surprising.  When humans are deprived of work, the ability to create, to associate freely, to worship, to enjoy life, they turn to other things to deaden their consciousness. 

What of the old guardians like the ACLU?  The ACLU is much too busy making sure that biological boys compete in girls sports and making sure that illegal immigrants cannot be deported to deal with such trivial matters such as the trampling of 1^st and 4^th Amendment rights.

We laughed at her, the bartender turned wannabe tyrant.   We mocked her silly ideas.  But Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is having the last laugh.  All she had to do was recruit a single ally, a tiny little pathogen.  And we all fell in line like sheep.  Trump may be your president but it’s her world now. COVID19 has partnered with AOC to shape our society, at least for now, more to AOC's liking than Donald Trump's and without a single vote from you.

So while I am all in favor of taking sensible precautions, it’s time to talk about civil disobedience at the excesses.