May 11 Marks the End of the Covid-19 Pandemic in the United States: What Lessons Have We Learned?

Today, the federal government arbitrarily determined that Covid-19 is no longer more threatening than any other disease, even though most Americans have been living just fine for the last couple years without even thinking about the virus. Leave it to governments to keep superfluous emergencies going for as long as possible and in order to rule through executive edict.

During the pandemic, we learned that governments instill fear into the populations and then offer the "solutions." We learned that it was considered unscientific to question the establishment and the authority of experts, as doctors could be decertified or shunned for not going along with the dogma. We learned that despite years of studies showing that wearing masks does not prevent the transmission of respiratory illnesses, governments will still force a rag on your face for the sake of compliance. We learned that people will hang on to the words of every politician and follow the leaders like good little sheep. We learned that the public is incapable of critical thought and considers groupthink to be the key to survival.

We learned that people will snitch on their neighbors for not following the rules. We learned that people will happily stay home and collect money stolen from hard-working people, while such welfare spending contributes toward large-scale inflation. We learned that governments consider businesses as their own property and will shut them down whenever they see fit. We learned that small business leaders will not stand up for their livelihoods when told to shutter their operations. We learned that governments will prevent voluntary transactions at any time or for any reason. We learned that governments favor big and "essential" businesses and will protect their profits over those of the little guys.

We learned that the right to bodily autonomy only applies under certain circumstances, like killing babies. We learned that people will accept buying their freedom with a poke. We learned that governments will happily deny services to those who make an unpopular choice over their bodies and that papers and identification can be required to access establishments and basic human needs. We learned that businesses will not challenge vaccine mandates. We learned that governments and the corporate media can lie about the effectiveness of a drug and still get most people to take it. We learned that Pfizer did not even test for transmission, but they, along with the media and officials, still pushed a false narrative. We learned that the concept of the military-industrial complex applies to the public health sector and that pharmaceutical corporations will profit off of public policy and a revolving door between the public and private sectors.

We learned that governments collaborate with social and news media companies to censor information and not allow the free exchange of ideas. We learned that governments will label anything that challenges the status quo as misinformation. We learned that the partnerships of governments and corporations would shame the public and scapegoat people for not making a certain decision over their bodies, and this would be watered down as simply "social pressure" by those incapable of seeing the bigger picture. We learned that a growing number of people advocated for sending the unvaccinated to concentration camps, or at least preventing them from leaving their homes.

Shall I continue?

We must now learn that if the powers that be were successful at forcing mass compliance for measures involving a virus with a small death rate, imagine what they can do with something that is perceived as even more dangerous. They did this once, and they will do it again. We failed the social and political experiment, and we are no better than those who complied with any authoritarian regime throughout history. We must keep our guard up and do better next time.