Is This About the Election or the Virus?

So many things are hitting us fast, hard and from all directions. It is increasingly difficult to sift through the messages to find truth as everything—even a virus—has been weaponized. So honest people have to ask, “Is this about the election or the virus?” Who benefits most?

I was a boy when the Asian Flu Pandemic, originating in Singapore, attacked America leaving 116,000 dead in 1957. I was in college when more than 100,000 people in the U.S. died of the, highly contagious, Hong Kong Flu in the 1968 Pandemic (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). I contracted both. Both exceeded the death rate of COVID-19.

No one spoke of shutting down the economy, businesses, schools and churches. The media did not frighten us with nightly death tallies and Congress did not rush forward with grants and loans valued at 4 trillion dollars to help ease difficult times. People were not quarantined to their homes for weeks—even months. No-one wore face masks or social distanced six feet from others. No one was arrested for going to work or being on public beaches. No governors openly violated the 1st and 4th Amendments of the Constitution. We did not stop shaking hands or attending public dances. NOBODY WAS PARANOID OF NORMAL DISCOURSE.

Nor did we do any of these things just two years ago when 61,000 people died of influenza in the 2017-18 flu season or last year when 34,000 died of the same. It was life. The media in modern history had never focused on the body count of flu that takes thousands each year—until now. Nobody thought to benefit politically.

Until now no country self destructed their economy over a pandemic. They came and went and the economies thereafter remained good because we let them alone. Even the Twenties were prosperous times following the Spanish Flu of 1918 that took approximately 675,000 in the United States of a much smaller population. As bad as that was, at least six times worse in death, we did not shut down the economy by governmental decree, make it unlawful to go to work and church, or violate the Bill of Rights.

So why now? Because we have been made to be afraid and stay afraid.

Death in America with the present Wuhan Coronavirus is, as of May 20, 2020, at 90,340. “Now we know that it’s likely to be closer to maybe a really aggressive flu season” (Ingram Angle, April 23, 2020). This is the number who died WITH COVID-19. The number who died FROM COVID 19 is at least 25% less—probably far less.

What we know now of the Wuhan Coronavirus is that children are only minimally affected and unlikely to pass it on and that it overwhelmingly takes those over 65 with preexisting conditions. The Journal of American Medical Association, April 22, 2020, concluded that 94% of coronavirus patients in New York City hospitals suffered from preexisting conditions.

The odds of you dying from this virus from those contracting it “can vary from, at most, eight-tenths of a percent in New York City to two-one-hundredths of a percent in Phoenix.” (“An Advantaged Disease, Indeed.” By William J. Bennett & Seth Leibsohn, April 06, 2020).

What we know now is that states like South Dakota and Georgia, without lockdowns damaged their economies least. States like Florida and Texas that protected the aged had minimal death rates next to states like New York City and New Jersey.

So again, is this about the election or the virus? In the questions below which political party benefits most from making a “somewhat normal” pandemic into the most fearful event in a century so close to an election?

How do you kill the greatest economy, the greatest unemployment records, and Trump’s gigantic rallies attended by 20% Democrats, just prior to the election? Why are blue state governors so slow to open their economies before November 3, if possible? Which party is most advantaged by an economy unable to get back to normal?

How would fear of human contact and normalcy cause the people to want mail-in voting, which is said to advantage one political party—especially in swing states?

Which is advantaged by keeping the people in fear? Why is the CDC so adamant about counting deaths WITH COVID-19 rather than only deaths FROM COVID-19? Why did Democrat governors send COVID patients to nursing homes in Washington, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey especially when, in the latter two the hospital ship Comfort was available but mostly unused? Was it to inflate the death numbers? Why is the proven and vastly effective drug hydroxychloroquine opposed by Democrat media outlets and governors?

How more easily could the Democrat media shift the narrative from the alleged Biden-Burisma-Ukraine and China Scandals and divert investigations on FBI and DOJ and alleged FISA corruption to COVID-19? Finally, how better could the media shelter Biden from past corruption, obvious cognitive problems, and coming devastating debate performance?

So, is this about the election or the virus? Given the fact that Trump has been the target of constant Coup d’etat attempts to remove him by the same media who hyped the fear on this virus, I think it fair to pose this question.

Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit http://www.LibertyUnderFire.org.