Dan Henninger argues Democrats used COVID shutdowns to advance the Green New Deal, invoking science to legitimize restrictions while suppressing dissent. He cites the Great Barrington Declaration as an alternative approach and warns that police chief resignations in major cities could erode public safety.
the shutdowns and the rest of it, early on, the Democrats and the media— and the media is a big part of this, as I'll explain shortly— kept arguing that Trump was violating, quote unquote, "the science." The belief being then that "the science" was arguing on behalf of quarantines, shutdowns, and isolation. And they've never stepped back from citing this authority, science, on behalf of, uh, the most restrictive possible measures in dealing with the coronavirus. And I think, Dennis, that that has a lot to do with something that is even a bigger goal in the minds of Democrats and the media, and that is climate. That is the Green New Deal. That whole agenda is based on citing the authority of science. And, you know, we have gotten to the point where anyone who, uh, dissents from their views on climate is regarded as a heretic and, uh, driven out of polite company. Uh, Trump, of course, pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accord. And, uh, now he, in their mind, is doing the same thing, violating their authority with the coronavirus. I think the two are connected. Uh, and since they're both ultimately political goals on their part, they're not going to let any kind of reality intrude. And especially with the coronavirus, man, that started back in February or March. We've learned a lot about the science of the coronavirus. I argue in the column, as the Barrington, uh, Great Barrington Declaration does, that we have to figure out a way to live with the coronavirus, to live alongside of it. But their politics simply does not allow the intrusion of any countervailing ideas. In this case, literally being the survival of most of the private economy.
Okay, I sometimes envy what I regard as your equilibrium. I am furious. I just have to say, I'm watching them wreck this wonderful country. That's what I feel I'm doing.
Well, I'll leave you with this. There's an article in the Wall Street Journal today, just put up this morning, about the mass resignation of police chiefs across the United States, Dennis, and the inability of cities like Minneapolis and Dallas to attract anyone else who wants to take the job of police chief in these great American cities, explicitly they're saying because of the lack of political support in those cities. And so I agree with you. I think we're on the brink of seeing something pretty grim taking place. I mean, once you lose the security function inside U.S. cities, the criminal element will recognize it. And I think over the next 12 months, it's going to start manifesting itself. It's going to be very disturbing.
Well, to hear that from you is very sobering. Be that as it may, thank you for your work, and thanks for coming on.
All right, Dennis, carry on. Good to talk to you.
I will carry on.
Life, Legacy, and a Dangerous Mission in the Soviet Union | Sunday Fireside Chat
