American Business Resurrection

"And again, I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."   Matthew 19:24



For a week now, President Trump has been pushing for a loosening of social restrictions and a firing up of American business. His stated target date?  He wants America "opened up and just raring to go by Easter," as he said Tuesday on Fox. The implication is that lives lost by reducing social restrictions are worth the potential short-term economic gains.

This Easter target date, two weeks from now, has led to some support from far right American conservatives, but also considerable pushback from virtually every medical expert. The Easter deadline has not generated any kind of widespread public support. Media pieces regarding the "cost of a life" made the rounds earlier this week, but the general public has not jumped on board, despite Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick announcing that he was ready to risk survival.

Choosing Easter as a target was a fascinating choice that could be interpreted as shockingly irreverent, deeply symbolic, or both. Americans across the country assembling in pews for Easter? Maybe it allowed people watching Fox to visualize a nationwide feel good moment. I have yet to see or read, however, an epidemiologist saying that it's a good idea. Some writers may have served as minesweepers for the administration on this "cost of a life" topic. They seeded the media with language and analyses that ran the risk of being deemed both unseemly and un-Christian if pushed directly by the administration. If these media pieces had gotten footholds and generated positive responses, then the administration could push them further into the public sphere. Fortunately, Americans do not seem to have given a thumbs up to the "lives for business" credo.

The United States is roughly two-thirds Christian, with two-thirds of these Protestant. Americans, regardless of their Whore of Babylon leadership (and is anything more whorish than trading lives for an economy "raring to go by Easter?"), are evidently not as addicted to their consumerism as some had hoped. Thankfully, they seem to have asked themselves what the Nazarene would do.

These days are historic, and many a 22nd century dissertation will be written regarding the plunders and blunders, the tactical feints and commitments, of the Trump administration. I suspect that the rhetoric of the past week will provide especially fertile fodder.

"Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  Luke 18:25


March 28, 2020
Bob Dietz