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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 4/14/21

Wake Up Progressives! The Role of Progressive Thinking and Action in the Post-COVID World

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September 23 Occupy Wall Street 2011 Shankbone 3
September 23 Occupy Wall Street 2011 Shankbone 3
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Reprinted from www.organicconsumers.org by Nate Doromal

We are entering the Post-COVID world. And the role of liberals and progressives (as well as libertarians and champions of constitutional rights) is far more significant now than we realize.

COVID-19 has brought on many changes in society. As COVID numbers diminish, there is a renewed euphoria in progressive circles in the wake of the pandemic concomitant with a Democrat presidential victory and an unprecedented awareness of gender and racial inequalities. While there is much to be excited about for progressives, warning flags have appeared that raise questions about whether our future direction is genuinely one of greater equality.

The COVID pandemic has shown all of us the power of government public health institutions in mobilizing and transforming society to deal with a pandemic threat. Yet, at the same time, public health policy, supported by the overwhelming majority of progressives, has become a paternalist force that has used its authority to control, manipulate, and divide the body politic, marginalizing or censoring public voices investigative, scientific, and medical that deviate from the "official story" of COVID-19.

Just like in the Vietnam War, when the government failed to heed the people's growing dissatisfaction with its protracted war, there is the same growing resentment amongst the populace as an increasingly unaccountable public health elite, backed by Silicon Valley, Big Pharma and what has come to be known as the Deep State, wages a prolonged battle against an invisible enemy. This biomedical-powered elite demands more and more sacrifices from the people while silencing criticism with fear-based propaganda, censorship (done under "fact-checks" purported to deal with misinformation), and appeals-to-community that ignore the legitimate concerns of those harmed by pandemic responses.

The critical question is this: Has our government, both Democrats and Republicans, indeed served the people during the pandemic, or has it become an oppressive force that exemplifies the existing power inequalities between ordinary people, corporate America, and the billionaires and oligarchs who claim to rule in the public interest?

In dealing with matters we do not understand, it can become easy for progressives and indeed everyone to defer our thinking to authorities. "Let them handle it," we say while we focus on the things we do know about, such as the decades-long fight for gender and racial equality, or healthy food and a clean environment. But, as we will see, ignoring the areas beyond our normal concerns allows powerful vested interests to expand their power and control at the expense of informed public debate and participatory democracy.

The role of science and technology, in particular, shown by the dominance of Big Tech in our lives, means that progressives and concerned citizens cannot ignore these matters. While the scientists and technocrats make discoveries and build on human knowledge, it is up to progressives and justice-minded people to ensure that new knowledge is used fairly and equitably.

We need a reinvigoration of the progressive function and a return to asking our society's most challenging questions. And there is a possibility now to do so in the Post-COVID world that wasn't present before.

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