Over the past few months, I’ve written a lot about how coronavirus hysteria has given big government Republicans and Democrats the “never let a crisis go to waste” opportunity they’ve been looking for to push the socialist agenda and move America in the direction of becoming an Orwellian dystopia.
Coronavirus hysteria has become the mother of socialism and government tyranny where, as Ayn Rand once explained, “the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission.” And while many disagree with my conclusions about tyranny, they are finding it harder and harder to deny how the so-called pandemic has made it possible to advance the ideals of Democratic Socialists and those of their nationalist Republican compadres in some very creative ways.
For example, paid family leave has long been a goal of the Far-Left, but it never really went anywhere until Trump hired his liberal feminist daughter Ivanka to be his advisor on the issue where abracadabra, paid family leave became a “conservative” issue.
Working with so-called conservatives like Sens. Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, and Joni Ernst, Ivanka succeeded in creating a paid family leave plan that allows participants to “borrow” from their future Social Security benefits. This plan is currently on the back burner, but it should be remembered that Ivanka succeeded in getting paid family leave for federal workers as part of Daddy’s coronavirus bailout.
Another example is Universal Basic Income (UBI), a program that would provide a government-guaranteed minimum income check for every citizen. This Marxist dream is so popular with the Far-Left that Andrew Yang made it a part of his platform in his now-defunct run for the Democrat nomination for president.
Though Universal Basic Income failed to save Yang’s candidacy, another former Democrat candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, sees coronavirus hysteria as an opportunity to accomplish the goals of her former rival. Harris has co-sponsored the Monthly Economic Support Act, a plan that would give $2000/mo. to people until the COVID-19 “crisis” is over. Families with children would receive even more.
Supporters of Universal Basic Income consider MESA the first step to making it a permanent entitlement.
Before you assume that only a Democrat would make such a proposal, Sen. Tom Cotton (R) — who happens to be running for re-election in November — has proposed his own UBI-lite version of Harris’ bill.
Ironically, Mitch McConnell is suddenly opposed to further coronavirus stimulus because . . . wait for it . . . Washington needs to get spending under control now that he and Trump have added trillions of dollars to the budget deficit with their record-breaking coronavirus bailouts.
Following Mickey’s lead, while still promoting the Republican Party’s socialism-lite agenda, the American Enterprise Institute has proposed an alternative to Universal Basic Income. Piggybacking on the concept of using Social Security to finance paid family leave, the “conservative” organization wants to provide $5000 stimulus “loans” that would be paid back from the future Social Security benefits of participants.
Trump loves the idea.
Social Security is essentially insolvent, and the AEI plan will do little more than accelerate bankrupting it. But with some creative bookkeeping and a few lies, Trump and the GOP can deliver enough money to the masses to make it look like a good idea. By the time the day of reckoning comes, these liars will be long-faded into the history books.
When it comes to socialism, Republicans and faux-conservatives claim to be a firewall against it. But in the Age of Trump, and with coronavirus hysteria as cover, they are working hand-in-hand with Democrats to advance socialism, ushering in the dystopian America Ayn Rand wrote about in “Atlas Shrugged.”
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable and promotes conservative principles over political parties.
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