One of the hardest problems about the COVID-19 pandemic is who to listen to.\u00a0\u00a0In this \u201cReddit, YouTube, saw it on Facebook\u201d age, there are hundreds of so-called \u201cexperts\u201d explaining everything about the virus.\u00a0\u00a0We are told that the virus actually doesn\u2019t attack the lungs, even though most of those who died suffered \u201clung failure\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0They told us that an anti-bacterial, Chloroquine, used for treatment of malaria, was an effective medication for COVID-19.\u00a0\u00a0And then there are the statistical \u201cexperts\u201d who say that since there is such a low chance of dying from the disease, we should just let it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the biggest problems is that the \u201creal\u201d experts, the folks who have spent their careers studying viral infections and epidemics, aren\u2019t giving us good news. They aren\u2019t telling us to \u201cgo back to life\u201d, and they aren\u2019t offering miraculous cures. They are saying that they really don\u2019t know how bad this outbreak will be. Their best guess: things are likely to get ugly as we open up our society again, and then again in the fall when we all go back inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We want a miracle cure. We don\u2019t want to wear masks, wash our hands, and socially distance. And when those are the only real solutions offered, we go looking on the \u201cInternet\u201d for something better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We ignore experts at our peril.\u00a0\u00a0It’s happening with this disease, and over 108,000 Americans are dead because of it.\u00a0\u00a0We are still doing it with the environment, and pretending that the consequences \u201cwon\u2019t be that bad\u201d. \u201cAnti-vaxxers\u201d do it, pretending that they can ignore diseases and not be harmed by them.\u00a0\u00a0We go to the keyboard, and find excuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are in an age where everyone can become an expert, just by getting on a computer. And even worse, we don\u2019t even have to read; we can have it spoon-fed to us on YouTube, with cool music in the background and nifty graphics. This instant knowledge, told by folks that are absolutely certain about their conclusions, is more than seductive. They are telling us what we want to hear, and they are absolutely certain they\u2019re right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the real experts, aware enough to realize they don\u2019t have the answers look pale and puny compared to the YouTube geniuses.\u00a0\u00a0Take Anthony Fauci, a man who has for almost forty years led America\u2019s battle against lethal viruses.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cOh, but he worked with the big pharmaceutical companies, so he can\u2019t be trusted!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0He was trying to find vaccines and medications for brand new diseases. Who would you expect him to turn to for help?\u00a0\u00a0Sure Louis Pasteur worked alone, but that was one hundred and fifty years ago.\u00a0\u00a0Fauci went to the experts, the best at creating medications quickly.\u00a0\u00a0And they produced results, for AIDS and Ebola, and for many of the other pandemic viruses we faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it\u2019s not just pandemics and climate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Trump finds that the Governors and Mayors won\u2019t listen to his \u201cexpert\u201d approach to controlling protests over the death of George Floyd. But he can control how the Federal District of Columbia responds, so he has created his own \u201cexpert\u201d to control DC \u2013 Attorney General Bill Barr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington has a duly elected Mayor, a Police Chief, a large metropolitan police department and a full range of city administrators. But the President seems unwilling to allow those folks to do their jobs. Instead, from an \u201cFBI Command Center\u201d in downtown, Bill Barr uses Federal agents from across the alphabetical spectrum to take over. FBI, DEA, ATF, Bureau of Prisons, Customs Enforcement, and National Guard all are \u201cflooding the battle zone\u201d (a football and warfare concept combined), in spite of the protests of the local government authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the \u201cexpert\u201d Barr has an even bigger \u201ccard\u201d to play if he wants to:\u00a0\u00a0he\u2019s dragged out the \u201cInsurrection Act of 1807\u201d to allow him to use the US military.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s stationed active duty troops just outside of Washington.\u00a0\u00a0That may be a \u201cbridge too far\u201d for the Defense Department.\u00a0\u00a0Defense Secretary Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Milley have just now started to push back against using the military on American streets, late in realizing what may happen.\u00a0\u00a0But that might not stop the Attorney General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bill Barr\u2019s a high priced lawyer.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s twice been Attorney General of the United States, and both times been involved in controversial interventions in the American justice system.\u00a0\u00a0But he\u2019s no expert in crowd control, defending First Amendment rights, or city or police management.\u00a0\u00a0His expertise seems to be in one thing only:\u00a0\u00a0 garnering more power for the President, regardless of what the Constitution says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n