For as long as this pandemic has gone on, the left has shouted incessantly that we must “believe in the science and the scientists” and the experts and anyone else who cements the idea of shutting down an entire economy. Okay. Let’s trust the science and the experts and follow their advice to shut it all down.
Would that satisfy the left? Of course not. Because it’s never enough. Once you give in to one demand, more always follow. Take the large-scale shutdowns in most states. The most controversial and newsworthy all seem to have a common theme: A Democrat governor.
While the current events in states like Michigan and Virginia are extraordinary, we often don’t get a good glimpse of the decision-making because corporate media will always cover for Democrats. They never ask a difficult question and in the rare case they do, will let politicians off the hook with no real answer.
That brings me to an intriguing interview from the other night when Tucker Carlson somehow got New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) to join his show for a hard-hitting 10 minutes. While no fan of Murphy, I do give credit to the governor for stepping out of his usual comfort zones of MSNBC and CNN, where he gets away with giving no real answers because the questions lobbed to him are largely slow-pitch softballs.
A few minutes into the interview, Carlson asked Murphy the question I’ve been asking family, friends, and neighbors for weeks as I have been watching them lose their jobs and businesses. With virtually everything in the state shut down, why are liquor stores deemed essential businesses and allowed to remain open?
While Murphy successfully handled Tucker’s previous questions with political pivoting, he could not find the words for this question, which was perplexing to me as a viewer and New Jersey resident. Did Murphy really not expect Carlson to ask this question? How could he not be prepared with something, anything to pivot away onto a preapproved talking point?
As he stammered and tried to pivot off the subject, Carlson stayed with it. It was unique in this day and age for a politician other than President Trump to be grilled for an answer. Murphy finally came around to saying something about consulting with mental health experts who suggested it would harm people who need alcohol in their normal routine.
Right. As if for millions of people stuck inside while parks, beaches, churches, and everything else remain shuttered, providing alcohol would help us get by. Give me a break. If anything, the “data” that the left constantly tells us we need to accept shows that alcohol (and drugs) are contributing to a spike in domestic issues as people are going stir crazy.
Fortunately, after these off-the-wall responses from Murphy, Tucker implied the obvious when he asked, “I would hope these liquor stores aren’t allowed to remain open so that the state can generate tax revenue,” which is one of the two obvious reasons they are still open. The other reason is that if New Jerseyans can stay boozed up, we are easier to control while this mandatory shutdown drags into the summer.
The most ludicrous part about this is that a Democrat governor insisting he is guided by science is ignoring it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines as well as Surgeon General Jerome Adams have repeatedly warned us that smoking and consuming alcohol should be avoided right now for health reasons. So why are liquor stores allowed to remain open?
For context, here are some of the places that are deemed non-essential and have been forced to shut down:
- Parks
- Beaches
- Places of worship
- Golf courses
- Recreational outdoor activities (basketball hoops being taken down, tennis courts locked, soccer netting removed from goals, etc.)
Those are just a few examples of things where social distancing would be easy to accomplish, but we aren’t even given the opportunity to try.
New Jersey is the second-hardest-hit spot in the country. At this point, just about all of us are connected to someone who has caught the Wuhan virus, and many of us know someone who unfortunately has passed away from it. We are all sympathetic to the issue at hand, which is why the country has yet to see a protest here in New Jersey like we’ve seen in Michigan, North Carolina, and no doubt soon other states like Virginia.
But if it is truly an emergency situation and we are mandated to remain at home until further notice, is it really necessary to have people congregate in a condensed space to buy a product that has proven to enhance domestic violence, right when tensions for so many people who have lost their jobs, income, loved ones, and way of life are already at an all-time high?
If you are going to “shut it all down,” then the government shouldn’t get to pick and choose the winners of this economic catastrophe: shut it all down. But that’s also the point: we shouldn’t all be shut down. Enforce strict social distancing guidelines on everyone, just like the liquor stores.
The scientists and experts the left is constantly touting are telling us alcohol needs to be avoided right now for our health. Why are Democrats not listening to the experts?
