Wednesday, May 27, 2020
The Left's Big Worry
A revealing story ran in the left-leaning outlet Politico yesterday that raised many eyebrows. Jason Furman, a top economist from the Obama White House who now teaches at Harvard, told a virtual audience of political insiders last month, "We are about to see the best economic data we've seen in the history of this country."
Furman explained that he's expecting a "V" shaped recovery – a steep drop in economic activity followed by very explosive growth.
"You could easily have 1 to 2 million jobs created a month" in July, August, September and October, Furman said. "And then toward the end of October, we will get GDP growth for the third quarter, at an annualized rate, and it could be double-digit positive economic growth. So these will be the best jobs and growth numbers ever."
But that hopeful news didn't sit well with everyone on the call. Politico writes that many progressives on the Zoom call were crestfallen, and Furman's prediction about rapid economic growth "has caused some [liberals] . . . around Washington to panic."
I can't think of anything more disturbing. It is proof positive that a significant segment of the left is heavily invested in America's failure.
There has been a lot of rhetoric about the coronavirus being like a war. Well, if it is a war, much of the left seems to be rooting for the enemy.
When the stock market was plummeting in March and April, sometimes dropping a 1,000 points a day, some liberal commentators looked almost gleeful at the financial carnage.
As I have suggested before, I don't believe it is a coincidence that governors who went overboard in shutting down their states were heroes to the media. Meanwhile, governors who erred on the side of getting people back to work, like Governors DeSantis (FL), Kemp (GA) and Abbott (TX), were mocked and accused of not caring about human life.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, we saw crowds in various places where people were not following social distancing rules and were not wearing masks. Of course, we all want everyone to be prudent.
But watching the liberal talking heads and politicians scolding those people was amusing. They seemed almost despondent that so many Americans would ignore their orders and dare to have fun!
The Face Of Leadership
I have been reading a book recently called "The Splendid And The Vile." It's about the London Blitz during World War II. At the height of the Blitz, the British capital was bombed every night for 76 consecutive nights.
When the air raid sirens went off, the entire British government and its citizens followed very specific orders to drop everything and rush to the bomb shelters. In the beginning, most Brits did just that. But there was one guy who famously did not follow that advice.
While British officials were ordering the public to rush underground, Winston Churchill frequently went to the rooftop or walked down the center of streets, as if he were daring Nazi pilots to hit him!
Reading this, I couldn't help but think of the advice that President Trump and Mike Pence are being given about wearing masks. As you know, they have hesitated to do so, much to the media's consternation.
Left-wing commentators are praising progressive officials who wear masks in public. They think that is leadership.
To me, it looks more like virtue signaling at best, and it's certainly not necessary when you are outside and no one else is near you. Seeing progressive officials wearing masks in public looks like panic and fear, something a leader should never express.
A country this important to the future of liberty cannot have leaders hiding under their desks or behind masks in the middle of a crisis. Winston Churchill knew that. The polls may not agree with me, but I think many people instinctively get this, even if they can't fully express it.
Trump vs. Twitter
As you know, President Trump uses his Twitter account to bypass the biased media and speak directly to the American people. But this week, Twitter fact checked the president's comments about mail-in voting.
The Twitter fact check cited articles from the Washington Post and CNN Opinion. So the liberals at Twitter are quoting the opinionated liberals at CNN and the Washington Post in order to shut down the president.
This censorship by the left has been going on for far too long. Some conservatives have been prohibited from giving speeches at major American university because the liberals who run them refuse to do what is necessary to preserve order.
The left isn't interested in having a debate. It is trying to shut down debate. It has been working for years to label normal conservative thoughts and opinions as "hate speech."
Hate speech has morphed from saying something insensitive about race to defending the definition of marriage, to being pro-life, to insisting that there are only two genders, rather than dozens.
The Covington Catholic School boys learned that it isn't just speech that can get you in trouble. If you're smiling at some agitator banging a drum in your face, you're a hater.
Liberals in America have historically been defenders of free speech. Some like Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley still are.
But today's progressive movement only tolerates progressive speech. The progressive left is increasingly intolerant, fascist and totalitarian. It is a growing threat to the First Amendment.
By the way, this has nothing to do with facts. Twitter has never fact checked any of Adam Schiff's false statements about Russian collusion. Numerous left-wing politicians have gotten a free pass for a variety of false statements.
This has everything to do with preserving the rights and the country that the men and women we honored on Memorial Day died for.