Large scale demonstrations against the COVID-19 lockdown measures have popped up recently in North Carolina, Missouri, and Alabama. I am conflicted on this. Like many, I am concerned that these restrictions could be abused and lead to the permanent restriction of civil liberties, including to delegitimize the upcoming elections. On the other hand, I recognize the seriousness of the threat the virus poses.
What makes me question the motivation of these protesters is that they appear to be conflating this cause with a pro Trump agenda, which makes the validity of their concerns incredibly dubious.
Firstly, to state the obvious, whenever North Carolina, Missouri, and Alabama are leading the way on something, it’s a horrible idea.
Secondly, pro-Trump people from the South are the last people who should be breaking social distancing rules. There isn’t any official data on what these people stand for, but if you look at the photos it’s painfully obvious that this has become a right wing rallying cry, which is probably why the protesters in North Carolina are concerned with removing their governor, who is a Democrat, and a scapegoat.
It’s tough to get an exact handle on the ideological bent of these people. Much of their signage features the word “Freedom”, but there are a lot of conspiracy slogans peppered in, such as “Investigate COVID and 5G.” I’m unclear how that investigation would be structured, but probably more clear than the guy holding the sign.
Trump supporters are older than the average American, which poses a risk factor for contracting the virus. They also have higher rates of obesity, as do the states of North Carolina, Missouri, and Alabama in general – another risk factor.
All of these states also have among the highest representation of cigarette smokers in the country, a huge COVID liability, with North Carolina and Alabama hovering around twenty percent of the population.
Ironically enough, all three of these states have sizable populations of people who have no health insurance. All three rank in the top 15 of the country’s uninsured population, as there is a direct correlation between how red a state is and how many people in that state are uninsured, because the Republican party has consistently fought to deprive poor people of health care coverage. This is one of their core values.
So, it appears the plan is to ignore the large gathering and social distancing regulations and greatly increase the risk of dying or of killing one of their comrades, and likely blame Nancy Pelosi on their deathbed because it’s easier than quitting smoking.
Now to state the incredibly obvious hypocrisy here: Donald Trump is one of the few elected officials in the history of this country who is openly sympathetic to fascism. If you are concerned about your civil liberties, you should be incredibly wary of your messiah on this one.
Trump consistently, as in every day, advocates that he has unilateral authority as the president. He spreads propaganda and false conspiracy theories. He also publicly fellates authoritarian dictators such as Vladimir Putin and the hopefully soon-to-be-dead Kim Jong un. He has gone to war with the press corps. He appointed Mike Pence, a man who openly does not believe in science, to be in charge of the COVID-19 response. He supports the broad authority of the federal government to interfere in states’ rights, such as in the case of sanctuary cities and federal funding and intervention. If you check your belief system, this should not be cool with you, unless you are a dumb twat who doesn’t know what you believe. He supports restrictions on American citizenship and mass deportations. He has ties to shady foreign investments.
This is not the person you want to be supporting if you’re concerned about civil liberties.
Not to mention that the Republican party instituted the Patriot Act, and has been steadfast in its commitment to voter suppression and virtually any other form of political gamesmanship meant to disenfranchise the people of this country. John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court -a Republican nominated by a Republican and confirmed by Republicans, is on the record as being anti Civil Rights.
I don’t understand why these people are unable to process that their beliefs are comprised solely of vast contradictions, and I usually don’t agree with very many megachurch pastors, but, for the sake of the country, maybe they should continue gathering en masse, in the name of Freedom.