The Lesser Of Two Evils

Please ask yourselves a few questions:

• How frequently have you thought or said that you’re voting for the lesser of two evils?
• How often have you lamented the dishonesty of politicians? Called them liars?
• Have you ever lamented corruption in government? Lobbying and special interests?
• Do you believe that government is generally or frequently inept?
• Have you lived to see numerous governmental guidelines or expert opinions debunked?
  • How about the low fat diet? How about the to-egg/not-to-egg debate?
  • How about nuclear bomb testing?
  • How about educational fads that whipsaw schools, teachers, and students? The New Math? No Child Left Behind? Common Core? (It’s as if public education believes that the great solution is just one fad around the bend.)
  • How about the War on Poverty?

If you answered “yes” or “often” to one or more of these questions, then let me ask you further: Did your parents feel likewise? What about your grandparents? I think that most Americans would answer “yes” or “often” to several of these questions. Does corruption heaped upon corruption, generation after generation, eventually result in honesty and sound doctrine? Of course not. So, if this be the case, then why do we have vast numbers of our citizens pushing governmental guidelines and restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic as if they clearly constitute the most reliable and safest response to the problem?

Is it not as likely now as before that the government response is wrong? Is it possible that spending hours a day with a filter strapped across your face, especially if reused from day to day, could have other unforeseen negative consequences to your health? Is it possible that the economic fallout from these restrictions could have numerous negative impacts on our health and well being? To children in poverty, what are the consequences of being barred from schools, libraries, museums, parks, and sports facilities, etc.? Hell, likewise, what are the consequences to any child? What about adults? Do we really believe that being socially isolated is good for our health? –unable to see facial expressions, unable to explore and discover culinary wonders, unable to feel the love of friends, relatives, and grandparents, being cramped up inside, unable to feel the sunlight on our faces or the cool shade of a tree, unable to hear the trickle of a brook or the rolling waves of the mighty sea? Do these restrictions which several of our state and local governments have imposed really contribute to our development as well-adjusted and healthy human beings? I think not! Could they weaken our immune systems? Probably.

Then we have the threats to public health which are far (far!) more significant than coronavirus/COVID-19: heart disease, cancer, missing and exploited children, starvation, and obesity, etc., along with the generally enormous loss of life or premature death that accompanies poverty. Poverty combined with low educational attainment reduces life expectancy by almost two decades. More children are reported missing in the United States in a year than the total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 worldwide (thus far)! It is difficult to estimate the number of people in sexual slavery, but when I averaged several published worldwide figures, it also exceeded the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19.

Yes, we can and should work to resolve as many of these threats as we can. The present preoccupation with coronavirus/COVID-19 need not prevent work in other worthy endeavors but it does and it will continue to adversely affect our progress even after economic restrictions are lifted. These are some of the unintended consequences of government imposed restrictions. A nation and/or world weakened by poverty will under-perform in many important ways, education and research being two of the most critical. Those in poverty are also much more susceptible to sexual exploitation.

With this irrational emphasis being placed on coronavirus/COVID-19 it really makes one wonder why. Is it because those in power are generally wealthy and older, thus placing them outside of the grasp of the infirmities that plague poorer people and into the demographic which is particularly susceptible to coronavirus/COVID-19? We’ve known practically from the beginning who the at-risks groups are: the elderly, those with serious or chronic heart and lung diseases, and those with diabetes. (There are other susceptible demographics, but this covers the large majority of them.) Yet despite knowing who is mainly at risk, we insist on imposing universal restrictions. Children are almost entirely safe with regard to COVID-19, but still they are barred from schools, parks, and many other public venues. Why? For their safety? Hardly. It is disgraceful for those in power to make decisions and forcibly impose restrictions which generally hurt the country and the world in order to reduce by a few minor degrees their own risk of contracting COVID-19.

If you are at risk, by all means, take every sensible precaution. Wear a mask. Stay home. Limit your exposure. Do whatever you think is best for your health. I assure you that I will do the same. I will not wear a mask. I will visit public venues and join social gatherings. I will frolic in the sun. I believe that this is what is best for my health and my immune system. I will cover my mouth when I sneeze. If I am sick, I will take sensible precautions to limit others’ exposure to me, the same as I would if I had the flu or any other communicable disease. It is sad that wearing a mask has become so divisive, but such as it is, I encourage all freedom loving Americans to practice a little civil disobedience and wear a smile that their neighbors may actually see. Also, vote these imbeciles out of office. We elected them, each as the lesser of two evils, to serve us, not to reign over us. Likewise, if I must choose between the evils of a mostly innocuous virus on the one hand and economic destruction including its attendant ills on the other, I choose the virus as the lesser of the two.

Ariel Hammon
Author of JACK