By Corona Borealis Studio @Shutterstock
At The American Spectator, Tom Raabe writes that lockdowns are bad for the country, but good for the left. He writes (abridged):
Liberals seem far more fearful of COVID than conservatives. A Gallup poll from October charts a 40-to-50-point gap between Republicans and Democrats when asked whether they were afraid of contracting the virus, with lesser but still substantial differences regarding anti-spreading behaviors (masking, social distancing, et al.). The most telling finding: only 5 percent of Democrat men favored returning to normal activities right now, versus 64 percent of Republican men.
Liberals also believe lockdowns work; they retard the spread. So, when cases spike, as they are at present, a lockdown is required. Once they take that step, they enter the Escher staircase of COVID: imposing a lockdown — lifting the lockdown when cases flatten — imposing the lockdown again when cases spike — lifting the lockdown again when cases flatten — and so on, ad infinitum. The fact that lockdowns don’t seem to work — witness California: opprobrious lockdowns and spiking numbers — doesn’t matter. The lockdown Kabuki salves liberal anxiety about the virus. They are doing something, even if it doesn’t work.
But the Left could also see coronavirus as the MOAC (mother of all crises), one it would be politically negligent to let go to waste. There may be additional lockdown benefits for the Left, but I see four.
1. Control, we know, is an aphrodisiac for the Left.
2. Continued lockdowns further socialism.
3. Lockdowns benefit big business and hurt the little guy.
4. This lockdown has paved the way for future lockdowns.
These lockdowns are yet another case where something that is bad for America is good for the Left.
