Lessons learned (or not)

Article by Steve Karp, M.D. in "The American Thinker":

What’s the word for how to kill a country?  Countrycide?  Is it preferable for it to be done financially, such as torching the economy, then printing up money and causing massive debt requiring revaluation of the currency?  Or perhaps by the taking of liberty via shredding the constitutional features of limited government, checks and balances, and personal rights?  How about the purposeful flooding of the country, legally and illegally, with people who are unassimilable, disease-ridden, desire all kinds of social services, or just prefer their own way of life but in a different setting?  For those whose mantra is “How do I hate thee, let me count the ways,” all at once will do. 

Despite or because of the two party system, this country has survived many ups and downs.  In just the past 55 years consider the Democratic Great Society, Immigration Act of 1965 and Obamacare or the Republican FISA courts, Patriot Act and now the shutdown of the strongest economy ever.  With the effects these policies had and will have on society it seems fair to view these two parties as different sides of the same pancake. 

So as we watch government in action, all in the name of protecting us from a viral intruder, one wonders what, if any  lessons our rulers will learn once the current “crisis” passes.  Will any of the following be addressed?

Was it really a good idea to have so many business off-shore their production to China thereby allowing for questionable safety and availability of goods?  What of the lost manufacturing jobs here?  Should business regulations that stifled domestic production and employment be revisited?  Or should we resign ourselves to the continued wares offered at ChinaMart?

What sort of punishment is in order for the Chinese secretiveness regarding their virus and the impact this has had on the world’s health and commerce? 

Who will be responsible for the increasing concentration of medical services by hospitals through acquisition of physician practices, employment of physicians and expansion of medical services beyond the confines of the hospital?  Now that it’s being rediscovered that hospitals are needed for the care of acutely ill people, should hospitals go back to their traditional role? What’s wrong with the sole role being maintaining emergency rooms, operating rooms for surgery that is complex or on patients too ill to have it performed in an ambulatory care setting, and providing hospital beds for people too sick to be cared for in other environments? 

Perhaps we wouldn’t be hearing of talk of too few ventilators and other medical equipment if hospitals had those available for times of need rather than spending our money bankrupting physician practices or building one cancer center across the street from another hospital’s cancer center.

During our current crisis, who was busy shorting the stock exchange?  Politicians obviously are insider traders. How does one otherwise become a multimillionaire on their salary? But are others who shorted the markets friends or relatives of those politicians? Should insider trading laws be expanded? Should term limits of federal politicians become the cry for the 28th Amendment?

When the stock market goes through a correction right before one’s eyes, should there be a lower tolerance to suspend trading, and not for half an hour, but before we have a 1929 redo with people jumping out of buildings? 

How many times is the American taxpayer expected to bail out industries, whose shaky balance sheet is often due to prior government action?  And speaking of taxpayers, shouldn’t all Americans be expected to pay some federal tax?  Perhaps liberals will one day mature in their worldview and learn to mouth “spread the burden” in place of “spread the wealth. 

Was it a mistake to allow mass immigration into the US without mass medical screening, as was done when Ellis Island functioned?  With 70% of immigrants being part of family reunification, wasn’t it more humane to have never broken up the family to begin with?  Are we really getting the best (at what?) or brightest (at what?).  And what of the millions of criminal aliens that reside among us who supposedly live in the shadows, while at the same time presenting to medical offices with multiple ID’s in different names?  Is it time to consider a mass repatriation?

Was it wise to close facilities for the mentally ill leading to millions living in the streets, subway tunnels and abandoned buildings, since they are a reservoir for infectious diseases based upon their lack of sanitation?

Once born, the words you learn in order are mama, dada and no.  When will we Americans relearn to say no to the ever increasing demands made on us from our mindless and at times criminal overlords?  It’s time to address the root cause of our present crisis, which is less viral related than government related.  Will government self-correct or continue to grow like the Blob?  Perhaps saying no is the abstinence needed to prevent a government pregnant with bad ideas and acts from further destroying the country.  Just say no.  They can’t arrest us all. 

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/03/lessons_learned_or_not.html