WASHINGTON (PNN) - April 16, 2020 - John Harris, founding editor of the inside the Beltway paper, Politico, is warning of a backlash to the shutdown.
The imminent libertarian surge is not a sure thing but it is more than a hunch. In informal conversations, one hears the sentiment even from people I know to be fundamentally progressive and inclined to defer to whatever health officials say is responsible and necessary to mitigate the worst effects of coronavirus. It is possible both to support the shutdown and powerfully resent it - the draconian nature of the response, and the widespread perception that to voice skepticism of any aspect of its necessity is outside respectable bounds.
The absolutist nature of the country’s shutdown and the economic rescue package have democratic consent - enacted by a bipartisan roster of governors and overwhelming votes in Congress - but it was the kind of consent achieved by warning would-be dissenters, Are you serious? There is no choice!
Many people concluded that for now there is nothing to do but suck it up. It won’t be surprising if some of those people eventually have an intense desire to spit out.
Politician power freaks will take note of this. Let's hope it helps cause them to start recognizing the anti-lockdown sentiment and start to recalculate their power freak orders.