Thursday, March 4, 2021

PANDEMIC PHLOGISTON-- Dr. deFacto's Covid Coup--ANTIPOSITIVISM & 10TH AMENDMENT

 

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     "...many Republican state officials are showing no signs of relenting in their march against science." (Jon Skolnik, Salon)

     IV89451 (EOC Syndicated)--Of course that "march" began way back last year and continued recently when the forces of reason clashed with those of economics in a familiar place, the South. On the surface, it appears like yet another feud between the federal government and states rights with some of the initial individual rights surrounding mask mandates brought out the First Amendment advocates, it's actually the Tenth Amendment that is in the spotlight;


     "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." (Cornell Law)

     The Tenth is by far the least used, with the far more popular First, Second and especially, the Fifth. But that's only part of the story; beyond it is the inherent trust in what's given the world everything from the airplane to the internet: science. The argument's been around ever since Lavoisier and company convinced his peers that phlogiston wasn't what fueled fire. (Britannica) The question now, however, is what's fueling the pandemic, and it may not just be related to coronavirus. The next question is, who's to blame for keeping the pandemic alive?  "Deep state," "conspiracy theory" and other hackneyed expressions just don't seem to give enough credit to where it's due since they only serve to create derision, distrust, animosity--there's probably more here-- in the general world weary population. Maybe there's a logical explanation somewhere. That might be found in the school of anti-positivism;

     "... the view in social science that the social realm may not be subject to the same methods of investigation as the natural world; that academics must reject empiricism and the scientific method in the conduct of social research." (positivists.org)

     In plain language, science as the golden rule for making laws regarding social behavior is rejected. Science may always be right due to its dependence on observation, experimentation and rigid rules of mathematics, biology and medicine, but right isn't always the best path when it comes to rhetoric. Those who have created  mandates that have consumed social life because of the pandemic are now being looked upon as stepping beyond those boundaries and intruding into personal and private lives; affecting education, employment and even survival. Those mandates might be summed up by the expression "Dr. deFacto's Covid Coup." 

     At first, the subtle rules appeared only as medical advice from the doctor; that was the role played by the former regime in the White House. Offered up were medicine wagon cures such as hydroxychloroquine followed by a bending of the charts to indicate an immediate path out of the oncoming disaster. When word got out that the strategic national stockpile was nothing more than empty warehouses, available ventilators were unserviceable, there weren't enough N-95 masks to go around even for medical staff nationwide and hospital beds were shamefully understaffed, panic began to grip America. Curiously, it showed up in an asymmetrical manner, such as a run on toilet paper in the supermarkets and Asian-American bashing; which, oddly enough, has increased as of late. These were non-scientific reactions to what became classified officially by Dr. deFacto as a pandemic. Only after the new regime assumed power in the federal government did the Covid Coup become exposed. The phlogiston theories evaporated when the casualty rate hit a half-million Americans.

     At the same time, an ice storm swept across the South, crippling the second largest contiguous state in the Union. The news that usually refers to this type of mega-event as a "game changer" were all silent. It was up to the governor of that state to come to his survival-instinct Neanderthal senses and invoke the Tenth Amendment. From a scientific standpoint it was a disastrous decision; from a rhetorical anti-positivist one, it was the correct one. Surrounding it, a bitter Hatfield-McCoy feud has erupted pitting the new federal regime's authority, as well as its credibility, against the will of the people, also left to the Tenth Amendment. It might be noted that the Republican incumbent, who lost a bitterly contested election last November, did carry the state. (Samuels, Texas Tribune)

     In the meantime, the White House is now faced with a dilemma; will other states go rogue like Texas and Mississippi, unmask its citizens and go for reopening? If anything, the old playbook inherited from the previous administration that placed Dr. deFacto's deep state phlogiston separate government in control of policy making, might well be ready for a reverse coup. That one will redefine the role of state governments and in the process, consider the social ramifications of the harsh medical procedures that have been erroneously credited to a certain ancient Greek legislator (Draco)  and place them back to where they rightfully belong--as loosely defined in Wikipedia-- the court of oral law and blood feud.



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