Covid-19: No, We're Not All in this Together
/Since COVID-19 was proclaimed a pandemic, one PR slogan has been used repeatedly: “We’re all in this together.” It would be nice if we could all come together like the ending to a Disney musical, complete with a happy ending, but that is not our reality.
We’re not all in this together. We’re all in the same storm, but we’re not in the same boat. Elitists are traveling in mega-yachts while small business owners are clutching onto the last bit of driftwood from the Titanic.
Repeatedly, elected officials have given orders to the peasants from their podiums, then broke them. They apologize when caught and acknowledge they’re human and need to be better examples, but we only know what happens they’re caught.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mayor Lori Lightfoot got their hair done at times when citizens in their cities weren’t allowed. Whitmer attended a BLM march after repeatedly criticizing lockdown protestors. California Governor Gavin Newsom dined at the extravagant French Laundry while he was locking down his state for Thanksgiving. These are only a few examples, but there are more.
The hypocrisy from elected officials is only the tip of the iceberg. The true monstrous injustice is how the government decides to pick winners and losers. Angela Marsden, owner of Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill in California, went viral on social media after sharing her frustrations. She was forced to shut down, after spending her own money to convert her parking lot into an outdoor dining space, yet saw a television production set up a few feet away. The production had tents to dine under.
"Everything I own is being taken away from me and they set up a movie company right next to my outdoor patio," Marsden said in tears.
California’s Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly recently admitted that bans on outdoor dining aren’t about any sort of data surrounding how contagious coronavirus is at restaurants. In his words, it has to do with the goal of “trying to keep people at home.”
We all like entertainment, but while enjoying new episodes of your favorite shows with new content surrounding police shootings and coronavirus, have you asked why their jobs continued while your business is failing? When you sat down to watch The Masked Singer, were you baffled by the studio audience, considering churches in California have been battling in courts over their constitutional rights?
The VMA’s took place in New York during a time when a mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers was in effect, yet participants of the show were not forced to do so. The New York State Department of Health said, “Similar to professional athletes, the VMA cast and crew are required to adhere to strict procedures which include quarantining when not working, wearing masks and appropriate social distancing, and rigorous testing during their stay.” But how can DOH know what Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga are doing in their everyday life, and why would they trust them more than everyday citizens?
Governor Andrew Cuomo once got into a testy exchange with a reporter over unemployed New Yorkers. He expressed hostility toward her and said anyone could get a job as an essential worker. “Now you can get a job and you can go to work and you’re not going to kill anyone.” That’s not a very scientific statement, nor is it a fair standard.
Cuomo once admitted to religious leaders that the policies inflicted on citizens were based on fear and not carefully crafted.
Cuomo made some disastrous decisions during this pandemic from sending infected patients into nursing homes, from unbalanced crippling restrictions, to propaganda interviews with his brother on CNN, Chris Cuomo, who broke quarantine while being positive with the virus. Yet the governor was bold enough to publish a book about his leadership and is being rewarded with an Emmy.
President Trump once said the cure cannot be worse than the disease. While small businesses across the nation have closed their doors, big box and online retailers have seen a whirlwind of profits. Government officials crafting restrictions that have ruined companies have not had to miss a paycheck. At a time when Michiganders couldn’t log on and get unemployment because the system was so overloaded, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a ten percent pay cut for herself. Perhaps ten percent would have been seen as a noble sacrifice if she, her health department, and attorney general wouldn’t have harassed entrepreneurs like Karl Manke, a barber who wanted to work for a living.
At Charlie’s Bar and Grill in Potterville, MI, a man came in with a sob story. The owner and his wife felt sorry for him and served him. Little did he know, the man worked for the Michigan Liquor Commission, and his license was then suspended on Dec 14th. No good deed goes unpunished in Whitmer’s Michigan.
About a third of Michigan restaurant operators say they’ll be closing their businesses for good within the next six months. Right now, in Michigan, you can go get a massage, go to the movies, and to the casino, but you cannot dine inside of a restaurant.
Americans waiting for some kind of relief from the government were disappointed to find out the new stimulus bill set to pass will only contain $600 checks. It does provide another round of PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans for employers to pay employees, but many businesses applied and did not receives loans last time.
After months of waiting, it’s hardly what Americans expected and needed.
When the government can’t pass a budget, locally or federally, and it leads to a shutdown, there is perceived outrage from both sides of the political aisle while they point fingers at each other. The media jumps in, and everyone talks about some government employee who suddenly isn’t getting paid or a park that isn’t open.
Now, the private sector has been forced to close by the government, and Americans are expected to take it on the chin. It’s an absurd double standard. If our politicians and their friends had to suffer like the vast majority of Americans, they’d govern very differently.
