Most of the things going on in our country right now are both ridiculous and frightening to the majority of Americans. I will touch on some of those dangerous policies in another blog, but in this one, I wish to provide a soupçon of hope. Be optimistic. This is, after all, America. Those who founded this country took on the mightiest military power in the world – – – and defeated them. The millions who have come here since then have come to seek freedom, and despite the elites on the east and west coasts, pride in America and love of country and flag run high among most Americans. But loving this country is not enough to prevent the takeover of socialists and Marxists. The Poles love Poland, but that didn’t prevent them from being taken over first by the Nazis and then by the Communists. The Cubans love Cuba, but that hasn’t prevented them from living under the harsh and cruel communist rule of the Castros. So what, besides our love of country, should make us optimistic? The American tradition of a spirit of independence.
During the pandemic, the erroneous fear of imminent death kept Americans at home, masked, social distanced, and even washing down their groceries before bringing them into the house. But as we became aware that the government, through Dr. Fauci and the CDC, were giving us not only conflicting information, but information which was scientifically inaccurate, people began doing what Americans do best: rebelling. Now, Biden intends to impose a mask mandate again on all federal workers as a condition of their employment because of the Delta Variant, which causes milder illness than the original COVID and rarely leads to death, even in those with underlying illnesses, striking almost entirely the unvaccinated. But his proposed mandate has already been met with fierce backlash from the American Postal Workers Union which represents 220,000 postal workers. They said in a statement: “While the APWU leadership continues to encourage postal workers to voluntarily get vaccinated, it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent.”
Last week, one of the nation’s largest healthcare workers unions, the United Healthcare Workers, protested in New York City against the New York-Presbyterian Health System which mandated that its 48,000 employees must receive at least one COVID shot before September 1. The union director, Cara Noel, emphasized, “We have been promoting vaccination, but to make vaccination a condition of employment is absolutely wrong.” Americans prefer to make their own decisions rather than be dictated to by the government. The fact that we have had enough, is a good reason for optimism.
Governor Pritzker of Illinois intended to order all students to wear masks at school again this year, regardless of whether they or their teachers had been vaccinated or already had had the virus. When a number of school districts complained, he changed the order to make masks optional in schools. With the CDC’s latest recommendation that we all (even the vaccinated) should be wearing masks again because of the mild Delta Variant (the opposite of what they said just a week ago), parents in some districts panicked and wanted the mask mandate back. As of now, however, the governor is leaving it up to school districts as to whether or not to mandate masks. I have argued numerous times that the masks do nothing to begin with since except for N95 masks which are used in hospitals and which block 95% of viral droplets, masks you buy in the store or online, including blue surgical masks, do not block viral droplets. They protect against spit and blood splatter, but viruses are so tiny that they pass right through the masks. Furthermore, a group of parents collected the masks that their children had worn to school ONE DAY, along with one unused cloth and one unused surgical mask, and sent them to a laboratory to be tested. The unused masks were free of contamination, but the masks that children had worn a single day in school were found to contain the following:
•Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumonia)
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis (tuberculosis)
• Neisseria meningitidis (meningitis, sepsis)
• Acanthamoeba polyphaga (keratitis and granulomatous amebic encephalitis)
• Acinetobacter baumanni (pneumonia, blood stream infections, meningitis, UTIs— resistant to antibiotics)
• Escherichia coli (food poisoning)
• Borrelia burgdorferi (causes Lyme disease)
• Corynebacterium diphtheriae (diphtheria)
• Legionella pneumophila (Legionnaires’ disease)
• Staphylococcus pyogenes serotype M3 (severe infections—high morbidity rates)
• Staphylococcus aureus (meningitis, sepsis)
Half of the masks were contaminated with one or more strains of pneumonia-causing bacteria. One-third were contaminated with one or more strains of meningitis-causing bacteria. One-third were contaminated with dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. In addition, less dangerous pathogens were identified, including pathogens that can cause fever, ulcers, acne, yeast infections, strep throat, periodontal disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and more”(Scott Morefield, “A Group of Parents Sent Their Childrens’ Face Masks to a Lab. . . .” Townhall.com). Parents have good reason NOT to want their children masked at school this year, especially since children are less likely to catch COVID and less likely to be extremely sick if they do catch it. And since, as this group of parents proved, the warm, moist material of the masks collect and grow all sorts of nasty things we DON’T want our children catching!
Two insidious programs that Democrats are trying to get into our schools are the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory. The 1619 Project claims that this country was actually founded when the first black slaves were sold to Virginia planters in 1619 and that the real reason that we sought independence from Great Britain was in order to be able to continue slavery which Great Britain would not have allowed us to do. That is a blatant lie. Setting aside all of the writings which we have from the early patriots that clearly explain their desire to separate from Great Britain in order to be able to govern themselves, there is even more proof that is difficult for 1619 proponents to argue with. British governors promoted slavery and one even overruled his legislature which had voted to ban the holding of slaves in their colony. Furthermore, we declared independence in 1776, were recognized as an independent nation by France in 1778, concluded the peace treaty with Great Britain in 1783, fought them again in 1812 when they kept stopping American ships and enslaving our sailors to sail their own ships, ended the war with them in 1815, and in 1833 Great Britain finally banned slavery in her colonies. Within 87 years of taking over our own governance and becoming a nation after fighting two wars with the greatest military power in the world, we fought the Civil War that resulted in the emancipation of all slaves and the end of slavery in the United States. That is the true history!
Critical Race Theory in the classroom separates children into groups according to skin color and frequently according also to how much money their parents make. The wealthier students, especially if they are white, are made to feel ashamed that their parents have worked hard in order to provide a good living for their families. The white children, all of them, are taught that they are born racist, born hating those of other races, and that they must apologize for this and work hard to overcome it, although how they are to overcome what they are told is inherent in their skin color is never really well explained. Other children, especially blacks, are told that they were born victims of the white oppressors and that the system is rigged against them. Any reasonably intelligent teacher, psychologist, or parent will tell you this is the best way to prevent those students from achieving anything. Tell them they cannot succeed no matter how hard they try and most of them will give up in despair. Critical Race Theory destroys every child it touches and many adults as well!
But luckily, parent group after parent group across the country is going to their school boards and demanding that those pernicious theories not be taught in their schools. And school boards are listening. One black father pointed out that he had two medical degrees and that not a single white person had ever stood in the way of his getting ahead. In addition, not only Republican states are banning the teaching of CRT in their schools or any other ideology which teaches that the U.S. is a racist country (a recent worldwide poll found that the U.S. was among the LEAST racist countries in the world), or that teaches that there is in every white American an unconscious racism or bias toward someone of a different skin color. States that have passed such legislation include Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, Arizona, and South Carolina. State officials in Montana and South Dakota have denounced teaching any concepts associated with CRT. The state school boards in Florida, Georgia, Utah, and Oklahoma introduced new guidelines barring CRT-related discussions in the classroom. In Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia, local school boards have criticized CRT in response to pressure from parents in their communities. Nearly twenty states which have not yet passed legislation banning CRT plan to do so.
President Trump and numerous other conservatives and conservative sites have been banned from twitter and Facebook because their comments do not align with official Democrat talking points. But President Trump and others have filed lawsuits against those companies. Republicans are fighting back!
So, don’t despair. Yes, the country is headed on a fast clip downward, but the 2022 elections are coming in just over a year and a Republican House and Senate will stop the most egregious attacks on our freedoms. In the meantime, we must remain courageous. Maya Angelou once wrote, “I can see in the acorn the oak tree. I see the growth, the rebuilding, the restoring. I see that is the American psyche. There is so much we can draw understanding from. One of the lessons is the development of courage. Because without courage, you can’t practice any of the other virtues consistently.”
Regular Americans are already showing courage and we must join them. They are doing what regular Americans have done since 1776: fighting back against the unreasonable and unconstitutional overreach of the government.
A Frenchman, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny also used the acorn as an example. He quipped, “An optimist is a man who plants two acorns and buys a hammock.” So, be an optimist. Plant your acorns and go buy that hammock!