Republicans may soon be feeling the Liberal Shock Doctrine
In her 2007 book The Shock Doctrine, author Naomi Klein explains how Republican leaders, especially George W. Bush, imposed conservative economic plans, including laissez-faire and privatization, upon the people of Iraq, the residents of New Orleans, and others who were shell-shocked from wars or other disasters. We have argued that, if Republicans can impose their Shock Doctrine when bad things happen and they are in power, then Democrats can do so too, with Democratic, progressive policies. The COVID pandemic presents just such an opportunity for President Joe Biden and the Democrats who now control both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Sure enough, there are signs that a liberal, or Democratic, Shock Doctrine is about to be put into practice:
Executive Actions
Within his first 24 hours in office, President Biden initiated and announced approximately 10 executive actions to battle the Coronavirus pandemic. These actions include, for example:
–a requirement to wear masks and maintain physical distance on all federal properties, as well as during interstate passenger airplane, train, ship and bus travel.
–a mandate that international travelers get a negative COVID test before entering the U.S. and quarantine once they arrive.
–halting Donald Trump‘s U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization(WHO).
–deploying FEMA and the National Guard to set up COVID vaccine clinics across the country, and reimbursing the states for 100 percent of their costs of using the National Guard for COVID response assistance through September 30, 2021.
Legislation
Likewise, President Biden is proposing a $1.9 trillion COVID relief legislative package known as the American Rescue Plan. The proposed legislation includes, among other things:
–a $1400 stimulus payment. President Biden has said that the $600 stimulus payments approved by Congressional Republicans were “simply not enough.” Biden further said that Americans should not have to “choose between paying rent and putting food on the table.” Democrats, you may recall, fought for $2000 payments but were thwarted by Senate Republicans, who have now lost their Senate majority. Thus, the $1400 now proposed would get us to that $2000 number that Democrats wanted.
–a national vaccine program, including community vaccination sites. This includes thorough contact tracing, eliminating vaccine supply shortages, providing paid sick leave, and more.
–safely reopening schools.
–increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
–providing support for the hardest-hit small businesses.
It should be noted that most of these steps aren’t “liberal” at all, they’re simply effective Good Government in action to address a deadly pandemic that, as President Biden stated, affects not just our health but also our economy. It is, however, a sharp contrast to Do-Nothing Donald Trump and the Republicans.
Photo by Paul Keller, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/fTcJJD
