A Pent-Up Political Volcano
No.92: January 28, 2022
Dear Friends,
I left the cold of the Montana winter to spend a few days on the tropical Gulf Coast, and… it is cold here. And rainy. Go figure.
Anyway, greetings from Corpus Christi, Texas, a place I’ve never been and of which I hope to actually see beyond my hotel room window. That requires getting this newsletter out to you, so let’s see what happens, shall we?
I’m here to speak alongside my pal Andrew Sandlin at a conference for City Church on the topic of the kingdom of God. It seems like it has been a long time since I’ve traveled for this kind speaking engagement (CCL’s annual event doesn’t count; that’s a family reunion, of sorts), and I’ve found that I’ve really enjoyed not traveling.
Yesterday was actually fairly disheartening. I am finally coming to terms with the fact that we are probably going to do this masking pageantry forever. Or at least our betters are going to make us do this forever. Why are we continuing this play-act? An airplane full of people sit there for hours masked. Until they don’t feel like it anymore and decide to take a sip of water or eat some pretzels. Airborne viruses take a break when you’re eating, you see. It’s a good thing, because the guy next to me waited until that exact moment when his mask was down before he sneezed. Seriously, it was a close call, but he had a cup of water in front of him, so no worries. And did you know that airborne viruses will spread until the exact moment you sit down at a restaurant table? It’s Science™.
Well, here’s some science: the vast majority of masks do absolutely nothing to mitigate the spread of airborne viruses. This is not really up for debate. Mask mandates have had exactly zero impact on the spread of Covid-19. In the right controlled environment (say, a lab or medical exam room) an N-95 mask can make a difference. But this ridiculous show of paper and cloth masks? It is absurd.
As I sat in an airport on a five-hour layover (it was a pretty miserable day, yes, thank you for asking) I heard the recorded message play over and over and over: “Our number one priority is YOUR SAFETY. Federal law requires that you wear a mask on airport property. Failure to wear a mask is liable to penalty under federal law.” You know what? I’m kind of doubting that their number one priority is my safety. I took my mask off quite frequently. I’m just sure the airport security officer really wants to do all the paperwork necessary to hold me liable for violating federal law, right? Um, no. Because all those guys were not exactly taking their own masks very seriously.
What is disheartening to me is how we as a society are continuing to put up with this. There was a perfectly reasonable argument early in this pandemic that masks were a necessary precaution; we didn’t know much about the virus, and we really did want to slow the spread lest our hospitals get overrun. Why not try everything we can? I was willing to give a pretty long leash to public health officials. But these rationales haven’t really been available to the powers-that-be for a very long time. Now, it has all become—obviously become—pure Nanny-Statism. Do as you’re told. Trust the “Experts.” Yes, I know my anti-masking friends have been saying that from the beginning, but my anti-masking has come about by actual changing knowledge and circumstances rather than a priori dogma.
That layover yesterday gave me the time to read Christine Rosen’s essay, “The Atlantic’s Nervous Breakdown.” It is a must-read, not just because it is a devastating indictment of how denizens of the newsroom at The Atlantic think, but because this is how our entire ruling class thinks. HHS, CDC, FDA, TSA, they are all addicted to panic and they are all addicted to power. They love shaming people, and they will smugly “tsk-tsk” the American people for as long as the American people allow them.
How long will we allow them? When do we get to become Americans again, and remind our moral and intellectual “superiors” they they work for us instead of the other way around? Well, the only avenue we’ve got is elections, and there’s a big one coming up later this year. And if a pro-vaxxer like me, who willingly went along with early mask mandates in 2020, is experiencing my current levels of growing frustration, then I suspect there is rage coming in November. If Democrats continue this parade of panic and power, if they continue to indulge the hysterical hand-wringers at The Atlantic, if they do not dramatically reverse course on vaccine and mask mandates, I believe they are going to get slaughtered at the ballot box. Glen Youngkin’s victory in Virginia was a bellwether; if we’re still talking about vaccine mandates and masking our kindergarteners in November, look out. It will be an election for the history books.
There was a post-pandemic “pent up” economic demand that led to a big boost in GDP; well, there’s also a volcanic pent-up political demand that’s going to blow. And it’s coming in November.
Some odds and ends:
You’ve no doubt heard that Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring from the Supreme Court. You can ignore all the breathless hot takes; there’s very, very little at stake in replacing Justice Breyer with some Justice Breyer 2.0. I will say that it would’ve been nice if the President had committed to nominating the best and most qualified person for the job instead of announcing that the critical criteria was the race and gender of the nominee. Do Democrats really think their obsession with intersectionality and diversity is normal? Popular? Outside the Ivory Tower/Beltway bubble, Americans still really like individuality and merit.
Jordan Peterson, the popular psychologist and speaker, resigned his professorship at the University of Toronto, and I am calling his op-ed in the National Post explaining why the “Essay of the Year.” Even though it is only January.
Here’s a chilling story out of Finland. Päivi Räsänen is a long-time member of the Finnish parliament and former minister of the interior. She’s a medical doctor, public servant, and grandmother. She is facing criminal charges for writing a pamphlet on the Bible’s teaching on sex. You read that right: criminal charges. As in, she might go to prison for agreeing with the Bible. You can read more about the case here. But, even better, you can get to know her by watching this video. Keep her in your prayers.
Great, Brian. Thanks.