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How Coronavirus Could Change Politics – National Review

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A woman sits alone on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial amid a dramatic downturn in tourists due to the coronavirus pandemic in Washington, D.C., March 16, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Both in the U.S. and in the world, the COVID-19 outbreak could have long-term political effects.

The political dynamics of Washington in recent years have been like an ’80s aerobics routine: full of thrashing and contortions, but with little actual movement. An endless succession of pseudo-“bombshells,” frenzied two-week scandals, and Twitter rampages created a jaded intensity — the perfect spectacle for the smartphone era.

But the past ten days or so have undone that exhaustion-through-microtitillation. Now, things are moving fast, so fast that perhaps no one understands what’s really been done, let alone where we’re going. On cable news, some talking heads try doggedly to slip back into the accustomed pattern, as though whether we call COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” is really the most pressing issue facing the country. And that’s understandable; the feuds we know might be more comforting than challenges unsolved.

It’s hard to say what this change will ultimately mean, in part because we don’t know exactly how high coronavirus’s ultimate costs in both lives and GDP will be, how long it will last, or what eventual steps the United States will take to face it. However, some possible consequences stand out.

U.S. politics will likely not be the same. So much money will be spent, and the federal government is taking such sweeping action across a host of sectors, from banking to medical licensing to industrial production. Federal power often grows during times of crisis, and this case is no exception. The United States is experiencing perhaps the most extensive exercise of (relatively) coordinated state power since the Second World War.  Even the aftermath of 9/11 seems restrained in comparison. Across the country, states and municipalities are closing down businesses, shuttering schools, and imposing curfews for extended periods.

A raft of subsidies, low-interest loans, and other supports seems in the offing for American businesses, and that crucial injection of capital may come with certain strings. For instance, some in Congress have called for making aid to some businesses contingent on relocating supply chains to the United States. If the other policy aims are bundled into various relief efforts, that could have long-lasting implications for American economic policies and political dynamics. The absence of policy strings could also be a cause for disruption. After all, the frustrations resulting from the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis — including the lack of reforms to end Too Big to Fail — have helped fuel the unrest of pre-COVID politics.

The coronavirus crisis may be jostling existing political coalitions. It has perhaps dispelled the totem of austerity that has hung over Republican politics (or at least political rhetoric) for so long. While Republican presidents from Reagan onward have long expressed an indifference to balanced budgets in governing, the GOP response to this crisis has by and large avoided even a pro forma expression about the importance of fiscal responsibility. Instead, the Trump White House, Senators Mitt Romney and Josh Hawley, and others have called for just cutting a check to American families.

High neoliberalism already had a preexisting health condition, and this global pandemic may be fatal for it. World trade as a percentage of global GDP peaked in 2008, after which the financial crisis made it plummet. It has climbed closer to that historic high, but the coronavirus outbreak seems likely to send that number downward again. Harder borders are springing up around the world, with even free-movement havens such as the Schengen Area being divided. For the moment, at least, coronavirus has severely curtailed the free movement of goods and people that is at the heart of many neoliberal dreams.

In recent years, defenders of the neoliberal order have taken to venting their anger at the political factions that have sprung up in response to neoliberal dislocations — “populists,” “nationalists,” Brexiteers, and, of course, Donald Trump. Yet these political actors have gained a foothold precisely because of the tensions that neoliberalism heightened: the economic frustrations of a financializing economy, the disruptions of mass migration, the polarization between the professional classes and blue-collar workers, and so forth.

In the United States and elsewhere, the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted some of the choices entailed in the current iteration of globalization. The risk of real shortages for medical supplies has done more to convince policymakers of the importance of domestic industrial production than a thousand white papers have. Moreover, this outbreak has renewed the tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Donald Trump’s election signified a shift toward an increased hawkishness toward China, but this trend has accelerated, prompted in part by the Chinese leadership — who have spread the false claim that the United States — and not Wuhan — was the origin of COVID-19. Many analysts already saw American dependence on the PRC for many key goods as a threat to the continued ability of the United States to engage in great-power politics, but this view has gained increased currency over the past month.

There is a chance that the coronavirus outbreak could end up being a relatively minor disturbance to the geopolitical status quo, an urgent blip after which the world returns, eventually, to business as usual. However, the effects of this global pandemic could also help solidify some correction to the current model of globalization. This correction need not be a Cold War 2.0, or a replay of the great disintegration that happened during the First World War, in which great-power competition unleashed a torrent of mayhem and misery. Countries might hold out a place for trade and migration while also placing a new emphasis on their internal social and economic infrastructures. The United States, for instance, could simultaneously engage in a more energetic form of industrial policy while also trading with nations across the globe (as countries such as South Korea and China already do). A more robust effort to renew the American industrial base and working class might actually help prevent a radical global retrenchment; a United States with a stronger internal infrastructure could better meet its international commitments.

Until we find out, we will sit in our quarantined homes, watching and waiting to see what the future holds.

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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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November 8, 2024

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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November 8, 2024

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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November 7, 2024

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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