As the country deals with a serious threat to public health, progressives are pushing their usual hyper-partisan agenda.
April 09, 2020
ITEM #1: “Never let a crisis go to waste” is the left’s battle cry. The ongoing coronavirus threat has offered countless examples of how shamefully they’re willing to behave in service to that mantra.
In recent editions of Morning Source, we’ve catalogued how Democrats have tried everything from trying to cram their long-standing policy wish list into the federal response to the virus, to threatening to permanently close churches and synagogues at the local level.
But that hardly scratches the surface of how the left has tried to exploit this public health crisis in order to fundamentally alter American society in a way that more closely comports to their vision. Earlier this week, we asked for your help in identifying some particularly egregious examples. The response was overwhelming, and we are so grateful for your feedback.
It’s become common for pundits, politicians, and even everyday citizens to talk about how important it is, in the midst of this situation, for all of us to put aside petty partisan politics and work together to resolve this crisis. And indeed, most people are.
That makes it all the more infuriating to see cases of those who are violating this spirit of community in order to advance their own narrow, hyper-partisan agenda.
It’s a dangerous, despicable gambit — even if it’s not all that surprising — that deserves to be thoroughly exposed. Indeed, citizens of ALL ideological persuasions should be gravely concerned about the implications if the left were to succeed.
ITEM #2: It’s no secret that the left despises guns and gun owners. So it’s hardly shocking that cracking down on gun stores was among progressives’ first items of business when the coronavirus scare broke.
As Fox News reported recently:
“With firearms and ammunition retailers from New York to California reporting record sales over the last few weeks, state governors are deciding whether to allow dealers to keep their doors open or not. ...
“[S]even states in total — Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Washington — have issued orders for gun dealers to close up shop for the foreseeable future.”
Blue states, all. (Yes, Michigan went for Trump in 2016, but it has a Democrat governor who has been highly critical of the President.) Some of these states have since backtracked, and hopefully all of them will eventually. Still, it’s telling that shutting down gun dealers was the first instinct of so many.
Not to be outdone, some local governments have taken similar action. In California (of course!), cities in the Bay Area are ordering gun stores to close, and the Los Angeles County sheriff has ordered that gun sales be stopped, the East Bay Times reports.
And the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court "dismissed a group of gun rights advocates' legal challenge to [Democrat] Gov. Tom Wolf’s statewide order closing all non-'life-sustaining' businesses, clearing the way for enforcement of the mandate to begin. ... [T]he justices denied a petition brought by a Bucks County gun buyer and a Lancaster County gun store owner, who argued that the coronavirus clampdown violated their Second Amendment right to bear arms."
In this time of anxiety and uncertainty, it’s especially necessary that Americans’ Second Amendment rights — which are crucial to self-protection — are upheld. The left’s desire to crack down on gun rights always does more to harm public safety than to promote it. But that’s even more true in the midst of a situation like this one.
Why, it’s almost as though progressives were itching for an excuse to implement a gun crackdown.
And speaking of guns …
ITEM #3: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issues almost daily cries for ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE). So gun manufacturer Remington stepped up and offered use of its now-shuttered million-square-foot production and distribution facility.
“We’re standing by ready, willing and able to support in any way we can,” Remington CEO Ken D’Ary said on March 23. “It would be an honor for our company to donate space for the manufacture of mission-critical products, such as ventilators, hospital beds, or anything else deemed necessary.”
But as of last Friday, Gov. Cuomo still hadn’t taken Remington up on its offer. Couldn’t be because he’s such a big gun-control proponent and wouldn’t want to give the company any positive PR, could it?
The episode is of a kind with another controversy out of New York, in which a nonprofit, faith-based organization headed by Christian evangelist Franklin Graham answered Gov. Cuomo's call for help from medical personnel around the country in dealing with the crisis.
The organization constructed a 68-bed field hospital in Central Park, which was met not with gratitude, but with fierce criticism from leftists who object to the group’s support for traditional marriage. This despite the fact that the organization is providing care to everyone possible, regardless of ideology or sexual orientation.
Those who have been infected with the virus need all the help they can get. And getting that help to everyone who needs it has proven to be a daunting challenge. Would progressives really prefer sick people go without treatment, rather than get the care they need from someone with the “wrong” political views? Sadly, for some, it appears the answer is yes.
ITEM #4: What better time than a national emergency to undermine the integrity of our election system?
Yep, that’s on the left’s agenda as well. The Democrats’ penchant for promoting election “reforms” that just so happen to advantage themselves is by this point legendary. So you had to know they’d view the current situation as a prime opportunity to go even further on this front.
Ronna McDaniel, the Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, authored a blistering piece this week calling them out on their shenanigans. McDaniel wrote:
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and former Vice President Joe Biden say we must throw election integrity to the wayside in favor of an all-mail election, fundamentally changing how Americans vote in eight months. The overhaul would vastly expand opportunities for fraud and weaken confidence in our elections, but all Washington Democrats see is a potential benefit for their party.
“Pelosi says she needs $4 billion, at the height of the pandemic, to ‘really democratize our whole system.’ Pardon those of us who thought we already had democratic elections.”
McDaniel details how the Democrats’ approach would open the door to fraud:
“The Democrats’ all-mail ballots proposal is a ruse to legalize ballot harvesting nationwide. Any person would be allowed to return an unlimited number of absentee ballots for voters, opening the door for political operatives to deliver ballots in bulk. …
“All voters ‘eligible to cast a vote’ would receive a ballot. The problem: many states do not clean up their voter registration lists unless forced to. California had to remove up to 1.5 million ineligible voters due to a court settlement last year after its rolls showed registration of 112 percent. In other words, there were more registered voters than adults living in the state. …
“Mail-in voting increases the opportunity for fraud. Just ask the New York Times, which in 2012 documented numerous ways ‘fraud is easier by mail’ and ‘vastly more prevalent’ than in-person voting. The Times found ‘votes cast by mail are less likely to be counted, more likely to be compromised and more likely to be contested than those cast in a voting booth.’”
There’s a lot of other great stuff in McDaniel’s piece, which you can read in full here.
President Trump weighed in on this subject as well, tweeting: “Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”
This is a serious threat indeed. It’s great to see the GOP’s national leaders stepping up and calling attention to what the Democrats are up to.
ITEM #5: The left has also found time to try to leverage the coronavirus outbreak to advance its illegal immigration agenda. As The Hill reported during the debate over the federal relief package:
“Activists are pushing for Congress to consider some protections for immigrants in its coronavirus relief package, including examining whether to provide some kind of economic stimulus and whether to provide testing.
“These activists say immigrants, including the undocumented, should benefit from the relief measures to avoid negative cascading effects on national health care and the economy.”
James S. Robbins, in a terrific column for USA Today that we’ve highlighted previously, noted that the relief package House Democrats proposed “suspends various aspects of enforcement of immigration laws.”
These may be pitched as “temporary” measures. But it’s not the least bit difficult to imagine progressives advocating for extending these measures — relaxed enforcement, financial support for illegals — on a permanent basis, even after the current crisis is under control. After all, they’ve already been pushing these policies for years.
Then there’s Joe Biden, the Democrats’ presumptive nominee for President. In mid-March — when the country was already in full-crisis mode over the coronavirus — Biden announced that he “would implement a 100-day freeze on deportations of undocumented immigrants if elected,” CBS News reported. Biden’s remark came during a debate with rival Bernie Sanders, in which moderators “asked about fears some unauthorized and legal immigrants may have about seeking medical care during the escalating coronavirus pandemic.”
And of course, as President Trump has responded to the crisis by announcing tighter restrictions on travel to the United States, we’ve heard countless howls from leftists over his allegedly “racist” and “xenophobic” actions.
In reality, it makes complete sense — from both a national security and public health perspective — that the flow of people into our country would be more tightly controlled during an epidemic.
Yet still, we hear endless whining from the left. Would that they cared so much about the safety of, you know, actual American citizens.
ITEM #6: Which brings us to our next item.
One of the biggest concerns people face during an epidemic, beyond the fear of getting sick, is the potential threat to public safety. During especially anxious times, the odds go up that some individuals will behave irresponsibly, dangerously, and even criminally. It’s particularly crucial during times like this to make the safety of our citizens a top priority.
Naturally, the left has addressed these concerns by … releasing thousands of people from prison onto our streets. The Los Angeles Times shares the news that:
“California is granting early release to 3,500 inmates in an effort to reduce crowding as coronavirus infections begin spreading through the state prison system. …
“Lawyers representing inmates in long-standing civil rights litigation against the prison system have asked those judges for broader prison releases, as well as protective measures to reduce the threat to older or medically vulnerable inmates not likely to be considered for release.”
California isn’t alone, as other states — at least a dozen, per The Wall Street Journal — have taken similar steps. (If you haven’t yet seen it, check out this excellent Fox News segment from Tucker Carlson on this subject.)
Right here in Nevada, an illegal alien in Henderson was released on his own recognizance from the ICE detention center after the ACLU filed a lawsuit claiming he was at risk of catching the coronavirus.
And the prisoner-release movement shows no signs of slowing down, either. The New York Post reported just this week that:
“Thousands of local, state and federal inmates are pushing to get out from behind bars, calling the jails and prisons ‘petri dishes’ for the coronavirus.
“Everyone from killers, drug traffickers and gang members to mobsters, fraudsters and accused rapists are making a bid to get out of the clink.
“They are aided by defense lawyers suing for their release, usually citing underlying health issues that make them at risk of catching the deadly disease in crowded conditions.”
Yes, because what America needs now is more killers and rapists on our streets.
Bravo to Arizona, by the way, for resisting this dangerous trend. Via the L.A. Times: “As more U.S. states issued orders granting early release to thousands of older, nonviolent inmates at risk for contracting the coronavirus, Arizona’s governor balked. Not here, said Gov. Doug Ducey, claiming less drastic health measures were enough.”
It’s nice to see common sense prevailing somewhere, at least.
Let there be no mistaking what’s going on here. The left has long made it clear it wants to see a mass release of inmates from our prisons. The coronavirus crisis is just the cover they need to make it happen.
ITEM #7: Here’s one that will make you absolutely sick.
The New York Post reports that:
“A Massachusetts man convicted of repeatedly raping a 12-year-old boy was ordered released from jail Friday — because he suffers from health conditions that can make him vulnerable to coronavirus, according to new reports.
“Glenn Christie, 54, who uses a wheelchair, was ordered released from the Massachusetts Treatment Center by Superior Court Judge Heidi Brieger, WBUR reported. ...
“Christie was convicted of child rape and indecent assault on a child under 14 and was being held for violating his probation conditions, according to the report.”
So we can add “protecting convicted child rapists” to the list of the left’s top priorities during this crisis. Again … sick.
ITEM #8: Of course, there have also been countless examples of governments going to extreme measures to punish people simply for going out in public. A few of the most draconian:
- In York County, Pennsylvania, last week, a woman was issued a citation for violating the government’s stay-at-home order by going for “a leisurely drive.” The woman said she plans to fight the citation.
- In Kentucky last week, “Jefferson Circuit Court judge Angela Bisig is ordering ankle monitors for those who were exposed to the coronavirus but who won’t stay at home.” Violators “will face criminal charges if they leave the house again.”
- In Malibu, California, two high-speed law enforcement boats chased down a lone paddle-boarder out in the middle of the ocean, far from any human contact, and busted him for violating the government’s stay-at-home order. He faces six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Fortunately, some in law enforcement are speaking out against this trend. One veteran police officer recently weighed in with an op-ed, writing:
“[I]t saddens me to observe some of the asininity on display among some of my fellow police officers in recent days as fear of the coronavirus pandemic brings the country to its knees. Reason and common sense have in some places been abandoned in favor of a level of social control rarely seen in any country that calls itself free, much less in the United States of America.”
The officer, whose name is Jack Dunphy, is right. There’s precaution … and then there’s insanity.
ITEM #9: Why does all this matter? We know that eventually, we are going to get through this coronavirus crisis. Less certain is what our country is going to look like when we come out the other end.
History is littered with examples of how governments have used public crises to strip away our rights and liberties. The measures are almost always sold as temporary, yet they seldom are in reality.
The left is using the current crisis to try to advance measures that ostensibly are necessary to combat the threat … but that are suspiciously similar to their long-standing agenda items, even when we’re not in times of crisis, and that would in fact do little to nothing to address our current challenge.
Mass prisoner releases, lax immigration, increased voter fraud, a crackdown on gun rights and religious freedom, politically correct censorship, an overall reduction in individual liberty … these are all things progressives have dreamt of for years. Now, they’re pouncing on what they see as an opportunity to make it all a reality.
Stay vigilant, friends.
NOTABLE QUOTES
“This country was not designed to be closed. The cure cannot be worse than the problem.” – President Trump, 4/4/20
“The Left’s objective, always and everywhere - is to grow government. At every level - whenever the opportunity presents itself.” – Seton Motley