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This Little-Known Section of the Constitution Made America the World’s #1 SuperPower

“There is always one, more prosaic, test of a nation’s position: Are people trying to get into it; or to get out of it? I think we know the answer…

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“There is always one, more prosaic, test of a nation’s position: Are people trying to get into it; or to get out of it? I think we know the answer to that in America’s case; the United States offers more freedom and opportunity than any other in history.” — Prime Minister Tony Blair

Most constitutional scholars don’t talk about it. My uncle, Cleon Skousen, who gave week-long seminars on the Constitution, barely mentioned it. In his attack on the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the economic historian Murray Rothbard made no reference to it.

And yet, this little-known section found in Article I of the Constitution could be the key to American exceptionalism. Indeed, it explains why the United States became the economic powerhouse of the world by the late 19th century.

I spoke on this topic last week at the J. Reuben Clark Law Society in Orange, California. The title of my talk was: “The United States Common Market and the Constitution: How a Gigantic Free-Trade Zone Made America the World’s #1 Economic Superpower.”

This chart shows how America gradually dominated the world economy:

Was it the Commerce Clause?

One of the lawyers there suggested it was the Commerce Clause in Article I, Section VIII that is the secret to America’s success. The Commerce Clause gives Congress the power “to regulate Commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes.”

But Section VIII of Article I of the Constitution tells Congress what it can do, and that is interfere with commerce. Unfortunately, the Commerce Clause has been a major source of ever-increasing authority by Washington bureaucrats, which alone would not necessarily make America great.

As I told the audience, you can drive a truck through Section VIII of the Constitution, which gives the Federal government virtually unlimited powers to tax, regulate, borrow money, print money and declare war. It is Section VIII that has allowed government to become bloated and almost out of control. This is one area where I wish limits were placed on Congress and the chief executive.

It was ‘The Dormant Commerce Clause’!

And that brings me to another section: Sections IX and X of Article I of the Constitution, known as the “dormant” Commerce Clause. This is the part of the Constitution that limits the role of the government, the powers denied to Congress and, in this case, the powers denied to the 50 states of the union.

Section IX states clearly, “No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.”

It adds, “No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.”

Then in Section X, the Constitution states, “No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Control of the Congress.”

John Marshall, Chief Justice from 1801 to 1835, made it clear what this section meant. In 1824, in the case Gibbons v. Ogden, he maintained that the “sole question” before the Supreme Court was: “Can a State regulate commerce… among the States, while Congress is regulating it?” He answered in the negative. No, it can’t.

A Gigantic Free-Trade Zone in America

In essence, Sections IX and X created a gigantic free-trade “common market” among the 50 states, from sea to shining sea. No state can stop you at the state border, impose tariffs and quotas on goods being brought into the state (except to check for diseases) or leaving the state. You don’t need a work permit when you move to a new state (except in the case of licensing), and you don’t need permission to invest in one state or another.

During the past 250 years, no other country was able to create such a massive free-trade zone like the United States, taking full advantage of our spectacular natural resources, rivers, mountains and a “melting pot” of immigrants.

America was one of the first countries to adopt Adam Smith’s free-trade model. Benjamin Franklin, who was friends with Adam Smith, supported Smith’s criticism of protectionist measures. “No country was ever ruined by trade,” Franklin declared.

Europe has tried to imitate U.S. policy with its “United States of Europe,” the European Union, which now consists of 27 countries that have a common market in goods, capital, currency (the euro) and employment (no work permits).

Americans Endorse Domestic Free Trade

Constitutional lawyer Norman Williams concludes, “The United States Constitution commits the nation to a liberal, free-trade regime among the states. That commitment is embodied in several constitutional provisions that limit the authority of the states to restrict interstate trade or commerce, most notably the ‘dormant Commerce Clause.’ As the Supreme Court has observed, these provisions effectively create a common market trading system for the nation.”

He adds, “Beginning as early as the middle of the nineteenth century, the Court actively rooted out and invalidated state laws that sought to discourage the sale of out-of-state goods or services so as to favor local economic interests. Since then, numerous ‘discriminatory’ measures have been struck down by the Court. Indeed, as others have noted, this antipathy to local protectionism has been a hallmark of the Court’s Commerce Clause jurisprudence.”

The Constitution Saved the Day during the 2020 Lockdown

Sections IX and X saved us during the 2020 pandemic/lockdown. Notice that the borders between the United States and Canada/Mexico, as well as other countries, were closed. Most international flights ended. But not domestic flights between the states. You could still drive and fly within the 50 states. A few states tried to impose travel restrictions, but they didn’t last. In almost every case, you were never stopped by the state police when driving from California to Nevada, or from Georgia to Florida. We can thank the Constitution for that.

Four Other Factors that Made America #1

In my talk last week, I mentioned four other factors that contributed to America’s dominance into the 20th and 21st centuries, in addition to the “dormant commerce clause”:

  1. Constitutional support for patents and copyrights
  2. A strong dollar. The dollar has become the world’s currency
  3. Free trade (declining tariffs)
  4. Open immigration (until recently)

Put together, the United States has become the world’s #1 superpower. We can only hope it remains so.

What George Washington and Adam Smith Have in Common

Yesterday, Feb. 22, was George Washington’s real birthday. Here is a great quote from his Inaugural Address in 1789: “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some providential agency.”

Here, our first president makes reference to the “invisible hand” which Adam Smith, the founder of modern free-market capitalism, made famous in his book “The Wealth of Nations.”

I tell the inspiring story of how Adam Smith and his “invisible hand” doctrine became the hero and protagonist of my book, “The Making of Modern Economics.” Every economist, from Karl Marx to John Maynard Keynes to Milton Friedman, is judged by whether they supported Adam Smith’s model or opposed it. It even has a good ending! See my story here.

The publisher Routledge charges $55 for my book, but I charge only $35 at www.skousenbooks.com. And I sign the book and pay the postage if mailed inside the United States.

This year is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth (1723). Join me in celebrating this great hero by ordering your copy today.

Upcoming Conferences

EconoSummit, March 11-12, Ahern Hotel, Las Vegas:  Join me for this two-day financial conference, sponsored by the Investment Club of America. The cost is only $199 per person. I’ll be speaking on “American Exceptionalism on Wall Street: My Most Successful Technique to Make Money in the New Roaring Twenties.” Join John Fund, senior writer for National Review, who will speak on “Election Geopolitics: Hard Lessons I’ve Learned After 50 Years at the Ballot Box,” and Floyd Brown, publisher of the Western Journal and author of the new book “CounterPunch.” Sean Flynn, a top economics textbook writer, will speak on “How Environmental Extremists Threaten Prosperity and Your Investments.” And Chuck Muth will talk about “Nevada Politics: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” Book your Ahern hotel room for only $159 a night. Call 1-725-414-4800, ext. 2, and use the code HighMark to get the discount. The NCAA tournament (“March Madness”) will take place in Vegas during our conference, so expect hotel rates to surge to over $300 a night. For more details, go to www.econosummit.com.

Investment U, 25th Anniversary Conference, The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club — Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, March 26-29: My topic will be “My Most Successful Money-Making Technique: A Report Card After 25 Years at IU.” Other speakers include Alex Green, Marc Lichenfeld, Karim Rahamtulla and Marian Tupy, the author of “SuperAbundance.” For more information, call Opportunity Travel at 800-926-6575, or go to www.opportunity-travel.com.

Tulsi Gabbard to Address FreedomFest

FreedomFest, July 12-15, Memphis, Tennessee: If you’ve never been to Memphis, you are in for a treat. It is the birthplace of rock & roll, and the location of Elvis’s Graceland, the Martin Luther King Civil Rights Museum, Beale Street and the headquarters of FedEx, among other highlights.

We Have a New Speaker!

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Congresswoman and now a Fox News paid contributor, will tell us why she has left the Democratic Party, and why she is optimistic about the future of America.

New Debate! I’ll be moderating a special panel/debate on “Do Political Labels Offer More Heat than Light?” with Steve Moore, Richard Rahn and Hyrum Lewis, co-author of the new book “The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America.”

For more information on all the new speakers and topics, go to www.freedomfest.com.

Special Discount for Investor Cafe Subscribers Only: An Additional $50 Off!

Make your plans to attend THE liberty conference of the year. We are offering an extra $50 in addition to the “early bird” discount for my subscribers! To register and take advantage of this discount, go to www.freedomfest.com, and use the code EAGLE50. Or call Hayley at 1-855-850-3733, ext. 201. See you in Memphis!

A FIRST TIME OFFER! Many FreedomFest fans have asked if we offer a special “Super FreedomFest Ticket” that includes all luncheons, breakfasts, the Saturday night banquet, front-row seating and special private meetings with top speakers. Yes, for the first time, we are offering a special “all in” ticket! For details, go to https://www.freedomfest.com/freedomfest-fam/ or call Hayley at 1-855-850-3733, ext. 201 for details.

Good investing, AEIOU,

Mark Skousen, America’s Economist

You Nailed it!

Governor DeSantis, Our Next President

In case you didn’t know, Governor Ron DeSantis is running for president in 2024. He’s just the kind of leader we need to create another “Roaring Twenties.” He’s pro-business, pro-investor and pro-freedom.

I see he has a new book coming out next week: “The Courage to be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.” In part, it tells his personal story, which is remarkable and praise-worthy. You can buy it here.

The New York Post has recently run excerpts from his new book on their website.

A little over a year ago, my wife and I met Gov. DeSantis in California. In his speech, he made a point of contrasting his state with California. He noted that Florida is ranked the “freest state in the union,” while California is ranked #48 and New York #50, according to Cato Institute’s “Economic and Personal Freedom Index.” Florida has the lowest tax burden, and California has one of the highest.

According to the governor, in 2020, 99% of votes in Florida were reported on the actual day of the election, compared to taking a month to do so in California. In Florida, IDs are required to vote, and ballot harvesting (collecting ballots for other voters) is forbidden.

The governor is so popular that, for the first time in years, there are now more registered Republicans than Democrats in the state. He won re-election by a landslide of 1.5 million votes in a state that is known for its slim margins.

Gov. DeSantis should be the next president of the United States. The only person keeping him from the Republican nomination is Trump, but the former president will be 78 in 2024, and DeSantis will be only 48 years old. It’s time for new blood.

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Chronic stress and inflammation linked to societal and environmental impacts in new study

From anxiety about the state of the world to ongoing waves of Covid-19, the stresses we face can seem relentless and even overwhelming. Worse, these stressors…

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March 12, 2024

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From anxiety about the state of the world to ongoing waves of Covid-19, the stresses we face can seem relentless and even overwhelming. Worse, these stressors can cause chronic inflammation in our bodies. Chronic inflammation is linked to serious conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer – and may also affect our thinking and behavior.   

Credit: Image: Vodovotz et al/Frontiers

From anxiety about the state of the world to ongoing waves of Covid-19, the stresses we face can seem relentless and even overwhelming. Worse, these stressors can cause chronic inflammation in our bodies. Chronic inflammation is linked to serious conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer – and may also affect our thinking and behavior.   

A new hypothesis published in Frontiers in Science suggests the negative impacts may extend far further.   

“We propose that stress, inflammation, and consequently impaired cognition in individuals can scale up to communities and populations,” explained lead author Prof Yoram Vodovotz of the University of Pittsburgh, USA.

“This could affect the decision-making and behavior of entire societies, impair our cognitive ability to address complex issues like climate change, social unrest, and infectious disease – and ultimately lead to a self-sustaining cycle of societal dysfunction and environmental degradation,” he added.

Bodily inflammation ‘mapped’ in the brain  

One central premise to the hypothesis is an association between chronic inflammation and cognitive dysfunction.  

“The cause of this well-known phenomenon is not currently known,” said Vodovotz. “We propose a mechanism, which we call the ‘central inflammation map’.”    

The authors’ novel idea is that the brain creates its own copy of bodily inflammation. Normally, this inflammation map allows the brain to manage the inflammatory response and promote healing.   

When inflammation is high or chronic, however, the response goes awry and can damage healthy tissues and organs. The authors suggest the inflammation map could similarly harm the brain and impair cognition, emotion, and behavior.   

Accelerated spread of stress and inflammation online   

A second premise is the spread of chronic inflammation from individuals to populations.  

“While inflammation is not contagious per se, it could still spread via the transmission of stress among people,” explained Vodovotz.   

The authors further suggest that stress is being transmitted faster than ever before, through social media and other digital communications.  

“People are constantly bombarded with high levels of distressing information, be it the news, negative online comments, or a feeling of inadequacy when viewing social media feeds,” said Vodovotz. “We hypothesize that this new dimension of human experience, from which it is difficult to escape, is driving stress, chronic inflammation, and cognitive impairment across global societies.”   

Inflammation as a driver of social and planetary disruption  

These ideas shift our view of inflammation as a biological process restricted to an individual. Instead, the authors see it as a multiscale process linking molecular, cellular, and physiological interactions in each of us to altered decision-making and behavior in populations – and ultimately to large-scale societal and environmental impacts.  

“Stress-impaired judgment could explain the chaotic and counter-intuitive responses of large parts of the global population to stressful events such as climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic,” explained Vodovotz.  

“An inability to address these and other stressors may propagate a self-fulfilling sense of pervasive danger, causing further stress, inflammation, and impaired cognition in a runaway, positive feedback loop,” he added.  

The fact that current levels of global stress have not led to widespread societal disorder could indicate an equally strong stabilizing effect from “controllers” such as trust in laws, science, and multinational organizations like the United Nations.   

“However, societal norms and institutions are increasingly being questioned, at times rightly so as relics of a foregone era,” said Prof Paul Verschure of Radboud University, the Netherlands, and a co-author of the article. “The challenge today is how we can ward off a new adversarial era of instability due to global stress caused by a multi-scale combination of geopolitical fragmentation, conflicts, and ecological collapse amplified by existential angst, cognitive overload, and runaway disinformation.”    

Reducing social media exposure as part of the solution  

The authors developed a mathematical model to test their ideas and explore ways to reduce stress and build resilience.  

“Preliminary results highlight the need for interventions at multiple levels and scales,” commented co-author Prof Julia Arciero of Indiana University, USA.  

“While anti-inflammatory drugs are sometimes used to treat medical conditions associated with inflammation, we do not believe these are the whole answer for individuals,” said Dr David Katz, co-author and a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine based in the US. “Lifestyle changes such as healthy nutrition, exercise, and reducing exposure to stressful online content could also be important.”  

“The dawning new era of precision and personalized therapeutics could also offer enormous potential,” he added.  

At the societal level, the authors suggest creating calm public spaces and providing education on the norms and institutions that keep our societies stable and functioning.  

“While our ‘inflammation map’ hypothesis and corresponding mathematical model are a start, a coordinated and interdisciplinary research effort is needed to define interventions that would improve the lives of individuals and the resilience of communities to stress. We hope our article stimulates scientists around the world to take up this challenge,” Vodovotz concluded.  

The article is part of the Frontiers in Science multimedia article hub ‘A multiscale map of inflammatory stress’. The hub features a video, an explainer, a version of the article written for kids, and an editorial, viewpoints, and policy outlook from other eminent experts: Prof David Almeida (Penn State University, USA), Prof Pietro Ghezzi (University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy), and Dr Ioannis P Androulakis (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA). 

Journal

Frontiers in Science

DOI

10.3389/1239462

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

A multiscale inflammatory map: linking individual stress to societal dysfunction

Article Publication Date

12-Mar-2024

COI Statement

YV is a cofounder of, and stakeholder in, Immunetrics, Inc. and a consultant to Anuna AI. PFMJV is the founder of, and stakeholder in, Eodyne Systems s.l. and Sapiens5 Holding BV. DLK was employed by Tangelo – Intend, Inc. Neither these companies nor the funders mentioned above were involved in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article, or the decision to submit it for publication. The companies mentioned above also did not provide funding for the study. The remaining author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The authors YV and PV declared that they are editorial board members of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

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Acadia’s Nuplazid fails PhIII study due to higher-than-expected placebo effect

After years of trying to expand the market territory for Nuplazid, Acadia Pharmaceuticals might have hit a dead end, with a Phase III fail in schizophrenia…

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After years of trying to expand the market territory for Nuplazid, Acadia Pharmaceuticals might have hit a dead end, with a Phase III fail in schizophrenia due to the placebo arm performing better than expected.

Steve Davis

“We will continue to analyze these data with our scientific advisors, but we do not intend to conduct any further clinical trials with pimavanserin,” CEO Steve Davis said in a Monday press release. Acadia’s stock $ACAD dropped by 17.41% before the market opened Tuesday.

Pimavanserin, a serotonin inverse agonist and also a 5-HT2A receptor antagonist, is already in the market with the brand name Nuplazid for Parkinson’s disease psychosis. Efforts to expand into other indications such as Alzheimer’s-related psychosis and major depression have been unsuccessful, and previous trials in schizophrenia have yielded mixed data at best. Its February presentation does not list other pimavanserin studies in progress.

The Phase III ADVANCE-2 trial investigated 34 mg pimavanserin versus placebo in 454 patients who have negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The study used the negative symptom assessment-16 (NSA-16) total score as a primary endpoint and followed participants up to week 26. Study participants have control of positive symptoms due to antipsychotic therapies.

The company said that the change from baseline in this measure for the treatment arm was similar between the Phase II ADVANCE-1 study and ADVANCE-2 at -11.6 and -11.8, respectively. However, the placebo was higher in ADVANCE-2 at -11.1, when this was -8.5 in ADVANCE-1. The p-value in ADVANCE-2 was 0.4825.

In July last year, another Phase III schizophrenia trial — by Sumitomo and Otsuka — also reported negative results due to what the company noted as Covid-19 induced placebo effect.

According to Mizuho Securities analysts, ADVANCE-2 data were disappointing considering the company applied what it learned from ADVANCE-1, such as recruiting patients outside the US to alleviate a high placebo effect. The Phase III recruited participants in Argentina and Europe.

Analysts at Cowen added that the placebo effect has been a “notorious headwind” in US-based trials, which appears to “now extend” to ex-US studies. But they also noted ADVANCE-1 reported a “modest effect” from the drug anyway.

Nonetheless, pimavanserin’s safety profile in the late-stage study “was consistent with previous clinical trials,” with the drug having an adverse event rate of 30.4% versus 40.3% with placebo, the company said. Back in 2018, even with the FDA approval for Parkinson’s psychosis, there was an intense spotlight on Nuplazid’s safety profile.

Acadia previously aimed to get Nuplazid approved for Alzheimer’s-related psychosis but had many hurdles. The drug faced an adcomm in June 2022 that voted 9-3 noting that the drug is unlikely to be effective in this setting, culminating in a CRL a few months later.

As for the company’s next R&D milestones, Mizuho analysts said it won’t be anytime soon: There is the Phase III study for ACP-101 in Prader-Willi syndrome with data expected late next year and a Phase II trial for ACP-204 in Alzheimer’s disease psychosis with results anticipated in 2026.

Acadia collected $549.2 million in full-year 2023 revenues for Nuplazid, with $143.9 million in the fourth quarter.

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Four Years Ago This Week, Freedom Was Torched

Four Years Ago This Week, Freedom Was Torched

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Brownstone Institute,

"Beware the Ides of March,” Shakespeare…

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Four Years Ago This Week, Freedom Was Torched

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Brownstone Institute,

"Beware the Ides of March,” Shakespeare quotes the soothsayer’s warning Julius Caesar about what turned out to be an impending assassination on March 15. The death of American liberty happened around the same time four years ago, when the orders went out from all levels of government to close all indoor and outdoor venues where people gather. 

It was not quite a law and it was never voted on by anyone. Seemingly out of nowhere, people who the public had largely ignored, the public health bureaucrats, all united to tell the executives in charge – mayors, governors, and the president – that the only way to deal with a respiratory virus was to scrap freedom and the Bill of Rights. 

And they did, not only in the US but all over the world. 

The forced closures in the US began on March 6 when the mayor of Austin, Texas, announced the shutdown of the technology and arts festival South by Southwest. Hundreds of thousands of contracts, of attendees and vendors, were instantly scrapped. The mayor said he was acting on the advice of his health experts and they in turn pointed to the CDC, which in turn pointed to the World Health Organization, which in turn pointed to member states and so on. 

There was no record of Covid in Austin, Texas, that day but they were sure they were doing their part to stop the spread. It was the first deployment of the “Zero Covid” strategy that became, for a time, official US policy, just as in China. 

It was never clear precisely who to blame or who would take responsibility, legal or otherwise. 

This Friday evening press conference in Austin was just the beginning. By the next Thursday evening, the lockdown mania reached a full crescendo. Donald Trump went on nationwide television to announce that everything was under control but that he was stopping all travel in and out of US borders, from Europe, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. American citizens would need to return by Monday or be stuck. 

Americans abroad panicked while spending on tickets home and crowded into international airports with waits up to 8 hours standing shoulder to shoulder. It was the first clear sign: there would be no consistency in the deployment of these edicts. 

There is no historical record of any American president ever issuing global travel restrictions like this without a declaration of war. Until then, and since the age of travel began, every American had taken it for granted that he could buy a ticket and board a plane. That was no longer possible. Very quickly it became even difficult to travel state to state, as most states eventually implemented a two-week quarantine rule. 

The next day, Friday March 13, Broadway closed and New York City began to empty out as any residents who could went to summer homes or out of state. 

On that day, the Trump administration declared the national emergency by invoking the Stafford Act which triggers new powers and resources to the Federal Emergency Management Administration. 

In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a classified document, only to be released to the public months later. The document initiated the lockdowns. It still does not exist on any government website.

The White House Coronavirus Response Task Force, led by the Vice President, will coordinate a whole-of-government approach, including governors, state and local officials, and members of Congress, to develop the best options for the safety, well-being, and health of the American people. HHS is the LFA [Lead Federal Agency] for coordinating the federal response to COVID-19.

Closures were guaranteed:

Recommend significantly limiting public gatherings and cancellation of almost all sporting events, performances, and public and private meetings that cannot be convened by phone. Consider school closures. Issue widespread ‘stay at home’ directives for public and private organizations, with nearly 100% telework for some, although critical public services and infrastructure may need to retain skeleton crews. Law enforcement could shift to focus more on crime prevention, as routine monitoring of storefronts could be important.

In this vision of turnkey totalitarian control of society, the vaccine was pre-approved: “Partner with pharmaceutical industry to produce anti-virals and vaccine.”

The National Security Council was put in charge of policy making. The CDC was just the marketing operation. That’s why it felt like martial law. Without using those words, that’s what was being declared. It even urged information management, with censorship strongly implied.

The timing here is fascinating. This document came out on a Friday. But according to every autobiographical account – from Mike Pence and Scott Gottlieb to Deborah Birx and Jared Kushner – the gathered team did not meet with Trump himself until the weekend of the 14th and 15th, Saturday and Sunday. 

According to their account, this was his first real encounter with the urge that he lock down the whole country. He reluctantly agreed to 15 days to flatten the curve. He announced this on Monday the 16th with the famous line: “All public and private venues where people gather should be closed.”

This makes no sense. The decision had already been made and all enabling documents were already in circulation. 

There are only two possibilities. 

One: the Department of Homeland Security issued this March 13 HHS document without Trump’s knowledge or authority. That seems unlikely. 

Two: Kushner, Birx, Pence, and Gottlieb are lying. They decided on a story and they are sticking to it. 

Trump himself has never explained the timeline or precisely when he decided to greenlight the lockdowns. To this day, he avoids the issue beyond his constant claim that he doesn’t get enough credit for his handling of the pandemic.

With Nixon, the famous question was always what did he know and when did he know it? When it comes to Trump and insofar as concerns Covid lockdowns – unlike the fake allegations of collusion with Russia – we have no investigations. To this day, no one in the corporate media seems even slightly interested in why, how, or when human rights got abolished by bureaucratic edict. 

As part of the lockdowns, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which was and is part of the Department of Homeland Security, as set up in 2018, broke the entire American labor force into essential and nonessential.

They also set up and enforced censorship protocols, which is why it seemed like so few objected. In addition, CISA was tasked with overseeing mail-in ballots. 

Only 8 days into the 15, Trump announced that he wanted to open the country by Easter, which was on April 12. His announcement on March 24 was treated as outrageous and irresponsible by the national press but keep in mind: Easter would already take us beyond the initial two-week lockdown. What seemed to be an opening was an extension of closing. 

This announcement by Trump encouraged Birx and Fauci to ask for an additional 30 days of lockdown, which Trump granted. Even on April 23, Trump told Georgia and Florida, which had made noises about reopening, that “It’s too soon.” He publicly fought with the governor of Georgia, who was first to open his state. 

Before the 15 days was over, Congress passed and the president signed the 880-page CARES Act, which authorized the distribution of $2 trillion to states, businesses, and individuals, thus guaranteeing that lockdowns would continue for the duration. 

There was never a stated exit plan beyond Birx’s public statements that she wanted zero cases of Covid in the country. That was never going to happen. It is very likely that the virus had already been circulating in the US and Canada from October 2019. A famous seroprevalence study by Jay Bhattacharya came out in May 2020 discerning that infections and immunity were already widespread in the California county they examined. 

What that implied was two crucial points: there was zero hope for the Zero Covid mission and this pandemic would end as they all did, through endemicity via exposure, not from a vaccine as such. That was certainly not the message that was being broadcast from Washington. The growing sense at the time was that we all had to sit tight and just wait for the inoculation on which pharmaceutical companies were working. 

By summer 2020, you recall what happened. A restless generation of kids fed up with this stay-at-home nonsense seized on the opportunity to protest racial injustice in the killing of George Floyd. Public health officials approved of these gatherings – unlike protests against lockdowns – on grounds that racism was a virus even more serious than Covid. Some of these protests got out of hand and became violent and destructive. 

Meanwhile, substance abuse rage – the liquor and weed stores never closed – and immune systems were being degraded by lack of normal exposure, exactly as the Bakersfield doctors had predicted. Millions of small businesses had closed. The learning losses from school closures were mounting, as it turned out that Zoom school was near worthless. 

It was about this time that Trump seemed to figure out – thanks to the wise council of Dr. Scott Atlas – that he had been played and started urging states to reopen. But it was strange: he seemed to be less in the position of being a president in charge and more of a public pundit, Tweeting out his wishes until his account was banned. He was unable to put the worms back in the can that he had approved opening. 

By that time, and by all accounts, Trump was convinced that the whole effort was a mistake, that he had been trolled into wrecking the country he promised to make great. It was too late. Mail-in ballots had been widely approved, the country was in shambles, the media and public health bureaucrats were ruling the airwaves, and his final months of the campaign failed even to come to grips with the reality on the ground. 

At the time, many people had predicted that once Biden took office and the vaccine was released, Covid would be declared to have been beaten. But that didn’t happen and mainly for one reason: resistance to the vaccine was more intense than anyone had predicted. The Biden administration attempted to impose mandates on the entire US workforce. Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling, that effort was thwarted but not before HR departments around the country had already implemented them. 

As the months rolled on – and four major cities closed all public accommodations to the unvaccinated, who were being demonized for prolonging the pandemic – it became clear that the vaccine could not and would not stop infection or transmission, which means that this shot could not be classified as a public health benefit. Even as a private benefit, the evidence was mixed. Any protection it provided was short-lived and reports of vaccine injury began to mount. Even now, we cannot gain full clarity on the scale of the problem because essential data and documentation remains classified. 

After four years, we find ourselves in a strange position. We still do not know precisely what unfolded in mid-March 2020: who made what decisions, when, and why. There has been no serious attempt at any high level to provide a clear accounting much less assign blame. 

Not even Tucker Carlson, who reportedly played a crucial role in getting Trump to panic over the virus, will tell us the source of his own information or what his source told him. There have been a series of valuable hearings in the House and Senate but they have received little to no press attention, and none have focus on the lockdown orders themselves. 

The prevailing attitude in public life is just to forget the whole thing. And yet we live now in a country very different from the one we inhabited five years ago. Our media is captured. Social media is widely censored in violation of the First Amendment, a problem being taken up by the Supreme Court this month with no certainty of the outcome. The administrative state that seized control has not given up power. Crime has been normalized. Art and music institutions are on the rocks. Public trust in all official institutions is at rock bottom. We don’t even know if we can trust the elections anymore. 

In the early days of lockdown, Henry Kissinger warned that if the mitigation plan does not go well, the world will find itself set “on fire.” He died in 2023. Meanwhile, the world is indeed on fire. The essential struggle in every country on earth today concerns the battle between the authority and power of permanent administration apparatus of the state – the very one that took total control in lockdowns – and the enlightenment ideal of a government that is responsible to the will of the people and the moral demand for freedom and rights. 

How this struggle turns out is the essential story of our times. 

CODA: I’m embedding a copy of PanCAP Adapted, as annotated by Debbie Lerman. You might need to download the whole thing to see the annotations. If you can help with research, please do.

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Jeffrey Tucker is the author of the excellent new book 'Life After Lock-Down'

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/11/2024 - 23:40

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