When I took to Facebook this morning, the first 4 comments were all about the government slowly taking away our freedoms by making us wear masks and not letting us watch our favorite sports teams in person. I already had a pounding headache when I woke up (more on that later.)
So for those who are bad at civics, here's your refresher course:
Government 091
(Remedial Community College Level)
Anarchy: Anarchy is the fun government system where there is no government. Very few times in the past 100 years have modern societies actually tried this.
Maybe Albania in 1997?
Today? Maybe Yemen.

Monarchy or Dictatorship:
Think King George III of Great Britain for Monarchy. Obama isn't King George, Trump isn't King George.
Hitler for Dictatorship. Obama isn't Hitler, Trump isn't Hitler.
Oligarchy or Junta
Think Putin for Oligarchy, think whoever the asshole is in Myanmar as an example of a junta.
Neither Trump or Obama are Putin or that other guy I'm too lazy to look up. Admit it, you don't know who the leader of Myanmar is either.
Democracy
Back in 2016, there was a Presidential Election, you may have caught it on the local news, between Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Candidate Donald Trump. The incumbent, Barack Obama, couldn't run again due to the constraints of the American Constitution. Hillary Clinton was a Liberal most of her life, but attempted to paint herself as a left leaning moderate as a New York Senator. When she ran for president, her platform was based on a certain set of leftist principles. Now take out your highlighters kids, because this is the whole crux of this article. Donald Trump was a RIGHT-LEANING POPULIST. As a businessman, he hated Liberals, they obstructed his business dealings. Donald Trump believed in the Stock Market and, most importantly, Donald Trump. Donald Trump was not a Conservative. Donald Trump was not in the Tea Party. Donald Trump was not a member of the Christian Right.
Please students, re-read what we have highlighted.
As a right-leaning populist, when the pandemic hit, he was unable to mobilize the federal government. Why? Because he was faced with two unpopular decisions:
(A) Shut Down the Country
(B) Leave the Country Open (Face overwhelmed Health Care Systems)
Now a lot of you are yelling "the health care systems didn't get overwhelmed!!!!" That's right, because we prevented them from being overwhelmed by shutting down the country.
Because social distancing worked. When a populist is faced with 2 untenable decisions, s/he doesn't have a moral code to fall back on.
When the pandemic first broke, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine swiftly took action. He said he was going to follow the known science at the time and he swiftly and decisively acted in following the template that he and Amy Acton, the director of health for the Ohio Department of Health, developed.
Wrong or right, DeWine made a plan and worked that plan.
When you're a Populist President, you don't have a plan. You work with what you think are popular opinions.
Let's send people checks? Yeah, that seemed popular, but it didn't help the approval ratings.
You know who sucks? Cuomo, Newsom, and that lady from Michigan. That was popular with the Republican base, but it didn't help with the approval ratings.
Open up the country? That was popular with the people on Team Trump, but rubbed the Seniors the wrong way. That may have hurt the approval ratings.
Open up the churches? Now you're worried about popular decisions in swing states?
Thanks to the checks and balance of the U.S. Constitution, a President's reach is limited. He can mobilize the resources of the Federal Government, but if he doesn't care, that responsibility falls back to the states. What you get is a real time history lesson between State's Rights and a Federal Response.
Your rights are constantly given and taken away by the whims of politicians. Before Roe v Wade, no abortions. Then after Roe v Wade, yes abortions. And then today, abortions in some states, no abortions in others. Over time, states eroded, or supported, Roe based on local moral codes up to the state level.
Remember how easy it used to be to get on a plane before 9/11? Your rights were taken away when the airlines created watch lists. Where are the people picketing the airports?
The problem is, in a country of 330 million or so individuals, everyone wants their own rights, but seem to want to take away your rights that they don't like that you have. The reason for the existence of Beacon of Speech is that Speech Rights have slowly been eroded by Political Correctness on the Left and Corporations on the Right. One day I know I'll probably end up in court, but hopefully that's a long way away and it's for an important cause, instead of 'masks make my face feel uncomfortable.'
So all you citizens screaming that your rights are being curtailed by having to wear a mask to Costco for 4 months, or you can't sit in the dining room of your local version of Moe's Tavern and drape your arms around herds of drunks, go ahead and get a lawyer and take that case to the Supreme Court, you'll probably win......in the year 2023.

If you can't understand the once in century ramifications of a pandemic, you ain't passing History 091 and you're a piss-poor human being.
I have had constant nightmares over the past few months, nearly every single morning, then inevitably I would wake up in a surly mood and write about the coronavirus. Today, today was different. I had a nightmare, but in the background was John Waite and the Babys playing their hit Isn't it Time. In my head, it was almost as loud as a concert. I have been listening to a lot of Blood Incantation lately, so the Babys are way, way off of my radar.
The strange thing is, when I woke up, everything was quiet. No TV, no radio, no computer. The only sounds were those of chirping birds. That loud music was self generated. What if this is a new thing that I can't control?
Yeah, fun new brain battles.
Mailbag:
Listen, Fred Hunt, you just don't get it, it's the principle of the government taking away our rights and getting in our business.
Okay fine, you win. You are free to be a Real American again. Go ahead and send those stimulant checks back to the government "on principle." You can do that, by the way, you don't want the Feds in your business, you can return those checks. Trump said today that the second round of checks will be here "sooner than later."
Yeah, that's what I thought.
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