Question: When did it become accepted governmental and health-care policy to sacrifice – and possibly destroy — the economic, mental, and physical well-being of the 99% to maybe protect and save the 1%?

Answer: March of 2020.

Reason: Unchallenged and unyielding Groupthink.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “Groupthink” as: “A pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics.”

With that definition in mind, to instantly install draconian, liberty-robbing, totalitarian-hinting “lockdowns,” wouldn’t one rely on “self-deception,” “forced manufacture of consent,” and unquestioned “conformity to group values and ethics?”

Over the last four years – and earlier when he was a private citizen – I have not only defended President Trump in a number of outlets, but spoken to the fact that I believe him to be one of the best presidents in the history of our Republic. I have articulated that for three key reasons: First, his multi-decade record of real-world business experience and repeated success; second, his street smarts; and last and most especially, his generally spot-on instincts honed by his real-world experience and street smarts.

That said, none of us is infallible.

Not the president. Not the tiny handful of unelected bureaucrats, “experts,” and other politicians who have forced their “solutions” to the Wuhan COVID-19 pandemic upon 330 million Americans without their input or vote. None of us.

There is no doubt that this virus is dangerous, infectious, can be quite deadly for some, and must be taken very seriously.

But there are all kinds of doubts – growing by the day — about what the “experts” and their computer models actually know about it and what they really and truly don’t.

President Trump is not an expert on infectious diseases. So, like any responsible leader, when a crisis such as the Wuhan COVID-19 pandemic hit, he surrounded himself with the “experts” in the field.

But, are they the best? It sure seems as if some of the president’s “experts” have been on every side this crisis from day one.

While President Trump is not an infectious disease expert, he is still a human being. As such, he is susceptible to being spun or stampeded into rushed, flawed, or even completely wrong decisions from time to time. Especially regarding a crisis as volatile as this.

Weeks ago, I spoke with a highly accomplished infectious disease doctor about this issue. A doctor who not only felt the virus had already spread to millions of Americans, but that the “lockdown” policy was causing more harm than good.

This doctor then posed a critically important question for those who shut down our nation. That question being: Is COVID-19 less or more lethal than the Hong Kong (H3N2) pandemic of 1968 which infected tens of millions of Americans, hospitalized hundreds of thousands, and killed approximately 100,000 out of a population of then 200 million?

A pandemic this doctor states, which not only mirrored COVID-19 in terms of it being “highly contagious,” but with the vast majority of fatalities also being those 65 or older with pre-existing conditions. A pandemic that worldwide, killed upwards of 4 million people.

The doctor I spoke with felt certain the “experts” of today would not be able to answer that question as there has been very little progress made in the field since 1968.

Now, with every “expert” on the planet studying COVID-19 24/7, the most honest answers we get are: “We don’t know yet,” and “We’re still studying it.”

They are “still studying it,” but knew enough to lockdown the nation and destroy thousands of small businesses and tens of millions of jobs.

Something that was not done during the administration of President (and World War II five-star General and hero) Dwight D. Eisenhower during the Asian flu pandemic of 1957 which infected millions of Americans and killed approximately 116,000. Something which was not done in 1968 and 1969 with the Hong Kong pandemic under the administrations of then Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. And something with was not done during the administration of President Barack Obama when the Swine flu pandemic hit in 2009 – 2010 and infected 61 million Americans, hospitalized 300,000, and killed upwards of 18,000. Many of them children and young people. A Swine flu pandemic also infected 1.5 billion worldwide and killed upwards of 700,000.

Not surprisingly in the “Age of Trump,” politics has infected this infectious disease. More liberals seem to be in favor of the “lockdowns” with more conservatives in favor of re-opening the nation for business.

At least with regard to the politics infecting the COVID-19 crisis, conservatives find themselves in a weak or even untenable position. For the last number of years and decades, liberals and the far-left have come to dominate the media, academia, science, medicine, and entertainment. Not only in the United States, but in much of the world.

As such, their “Groupthink” on the subject of COVID-19 controls the message, dictates the “solutions” and labels anyone daring to question it or them, “suspect.”

And yet, from day one, we could see that President Trump’s instincts were telling him to question and even fight this “Groupthink.” He was right to do so then and he is even more right to do so now.

President Trump does have exceptionally good instincts. He just needs to go back to trusting them so he can free our nation from this draconian groupthink lockdown.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and an author.

We Could Use Your Help Issues & Insights was founded by seasoned journalists from the IBD Editorials page. Our mission is to use our decades of experience to provide timely, fact-based reporting and deeply informed analysis on the news of the day. We’re doing this on a voluntary basis because we think our approach to commentary is sorely lacking both in today’s mainstream media and on the internet. You can help us keep our mission going. If you like what you see, feel free to visit our Donations Page by clicking here. And be sure to tell your friends! You can also subscribe to I&I: It's free!

Share this...





Reddit

Linkedin

email