Everybody’s talking about the fourth stimulus bill. Infrastructure. Payroll tax cut. Vote by mail.
But there won’t be one.
There will be a stimulus, but it will not come from Congress. The fourth stimulus will come from you and me.
There are three reasons for this, which I will get to in a moment. But, first, do me a favor: Please share this post with your members of Congress. It’s that important.
Now, for those reasons you’ve been waiting for patiently.
One: Coronavirus Has Lost Its Power to Trigger Cooperation #
Remember after 9-11 how Americans were all singing from the same sheet and treating each other will manners and respect? Some people talked about how America was changed forever, back into a world of manliness and manners.
The change didn’t last, of course. Tragedy leaves scars, but we move on.
The courtliness and courtesy of March already left Washington. Democrats, always motivated by money and power, have returned to their old games of demonizing the Republican in charge. Currently, it’s Trump. But they also demonized George W. Bush after 9/11, his father after Desert Storm, Reagan every day of his presidency. They demonized Republican losers, too, like McCain and Romney. Democrats demonize. It’s what they do.
Coronavirus was seen for a time as an existential threat to humanity, and in those moments partisanship waned. Once the insiders learned that Coronavirus had been over sold by academics, cordiality disappeared. Coronavirus had lost its power to unite.
Two: We Have Enough Debt Already #
Believe it or not, there are still a few Republicans who think debt is a bad thing, a dangerous thing. Larry Kudlow is one of them. Steve Moore is another.
Yes, they’re justifying the three stimuli already passed. In part, because the economy needed support. In part, because morality required compensation to people thrown out of work by government fiat. But somewhat because Kudlow and Moore are team players who support the president. For these reasons, they bit their tongues and promoted the three stimulus bills.
They won’t be silent for long, and they’re not silent within the walls of the White House.
The national debt clock is at $25 trillion and climbing fast. Doubly fast because $20 million people who were working and paying taxes in February are now sitting at home collecting federal welfare. Faster, still, because Congress passed $6 trillion in stimulus aid.
We don’t know what the tipping on debt is. We might have already passed it. Or, it could be a trillion or two away. But we don’t want to cross that line. A debt bomb will make Coronavirus look like wedding feast.
The fourth stimulus won’t happen because we can’t afford it.
Three: A Fourth Stimulus Bill Isn’t Needed Because We’re Going Back to Work #
Here’s the reality: America is going back to work, because it’s what Americans do. We work.
I realize that governors and county executives and mayors and public health “experts” are saying, “we’re going to be in lockdown for at least two more years.”
Nonsense. We’re not. We’re going back to work sooner than you expect. Very soon.
Shelley Luther, the Texas hairdresser who was sent to jail and quickly release, symbolizes why the shutdown will end soon. She had to work to feed her kids.
Americans will defy immoral orders eventually. And, by eventually, I mean weeks, not years. We’re just about there.
The scientists were wrong. The media were wrong. The fear-mongering politicians were wrong. And everybody knows it. Their bluff has been called, so we’re going back to work.
We Are The Fourth Stimulus #
It’s time for us to transition to greatness again. You and me. Moving through the virus and into the new American Greatness. Just as we did after 9/11, after the Iraq War, after the Cold War, after Iran Hostage Crisis, after Vietnam, after Korea and World War II, and World War I. We rise up, dust off, and move forward like no nation in the history of the world.
It’s what we do.
Eric Greitens, in his wonderful book Resilience, wrote about tragedy. He said we don’t get over tragedies, we go through them. We emerge different and changed, and attempts to escape unchanged lead to bad problems. Instead, we emerge changed, maybe scarred and limping, but we emerge and move on.
We’re moving through the Coronavirus disaster, and we’re ready to move faster. We don’t need more government help. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, at the present stage of this crisis, government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem.
As we begin our transition to greatness, we can say goodbye to those stimulus bills that are really anchors that tied us to fear and the past. We can now embrace this mission: to move through it and come out stronger and greater than ever.
It’s time to move. Greatness awaits.
Image: Sunrise over the Atlantic in Myrtle Beach, SC