Kill the Goat

The Wall Street Journal estimates that 4 million small businesses will have gone under in 2020. The majority of them did not fail because their business model was flawed. They did not fail because their management was weak. They did not fail because their products didn't resonate with the market.

Nope. They failed because mostly Democrat governors and mayors gave in to media-induced hysteria and fear and locked down their cites and states, ruining businesses and lives in the process. Those same petty tyrants told us over and over again that they were following the science—an abject lie. They told us it was for our own good and would "stop the spread"—it wasn't and it didn't.

Some of us warned about this very early—way back in March and April (e.g., here, here, and here) but the tyrants—catastrophists and enthusiastic members of Team Apocalypse all—would have none of it.

In a harsh commentary, Libby Emmons points a finger on the perpetrators of this economic and social wreckage:

If the "greatest generation" were those who set off to fight in World War II, the most selfish generation are undoubtedly their children. These are the ones in our society who are advocating hard for the rest of us to suffer so that they might live. They impose lockdown orders, tell us to cancel our holidays, to stay home, to turn to technology for literally everything that we used to do together—work, education, social life, entertainment.

If they had any sense of justice or sacrifice themselves, they would isolate themselves for their own safety, and let the rest of us live in peace. Every new round of coronavirus cases (neé deaths) is a new reason for elected leaders of my parents' generation to issue new, restrictive orders that limit our ability to work, socialize, or educate our children.

The global Influenza A pandemic in 1968 was virtually ignored by the boomers, so much so that they held a massive music festival in Woodstock, New York, [link mine] with absolutely no concern for their own health, or anyone else's. Now they have shut down the world to keep themselves safe.

And while they tell us it is for our own good, it's not even working.

Lockdowns in America, now in their 10th month, are not effective. We keep hearing that because people are dying, we need to lockdown more, we need to sacrifice more, that if we just give over our lives even further to fear we may have a chance at surviving. While sacrifice feels good because it feels like we are actually doing something, it is not actually helping. 

The Democrats (and a few GOP pols) tend to live in a fantasy world in which meaningless gestures replace well-planned actions as solutions to actual problems. They argue that those empty gestures are the "solutions" to the problems we face. In some cases the gestures are relatively harmless albeit ineffective, but in others, they are destructive and dangerous. Lockdowns are an example of the latter. 

In October, I noted that the Great Barrington Declaration, used statistics and actual science (not Democrat faux "science") to argue against lockdowns. Emmons comments further:

The issuance of The Great Barrington Declaration was another moment of light that America's leaders could have used to indicate that they were skipping down exactly the wrong path. Folks like Governors Whitmer, Cuomo, Newsom, Inslee, could have read the document and realizing that depriving their citizens of their livelihoods and earning power was not the top idea. But instead, these boomers doubled down on their plans, saying we have to lockdown more, deprive ourselves more, all for their own fears.

The Declaration calls for Focussed Protection, saying that: "Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health, which is of course the very thing the lockdowns and restrictions were meant to protect.

They cite "lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health," and say outright that "Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice," that "Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed."

It is the aged, they say, and not the young who are most vulnerable to fatality from COVID-19. They write that "for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza." Yet these are the very people who are being horribly harmed by restrictions and lockdowns. In an effort to protect themselves, the boomers are destroying the lives of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

If they are too scared of the world to walk around in it, say our boomer leaders, then no one should be allowed out of the house. 

There's an old Russian fable that comes out of the communist era. 

Two farmers in communist Russia have small plots of land. Both were just getting by. One farmer worked harder than the other and somehow saved enough to buy a goat. Using the money he got from selling goat's milk, the farmer was able to acquire other goods that allowed him to prosper. 

The other farmer complained to the commissar, suggesting that it was unfair for one farmer to have a goat and prosper while he did not have a goat.

The commissar asked, "What do you want me to do about it?"

The goatless farmer scowled and answered, "Kill the goat."

Many on the left are COVID-19 catastrophists who have adopted the "kill the goat" philosophy so common among socialists.  If a few should be isolated, everyone should be locked down. In this case, they haven't just killed a goat, they've grievously injured lives and livelihoods of good, hardworking people. They should be ashamed.