We Should Worry about a Permanent Covidocracy
Excerpt: Beginning in 1940, German U-boats wreaked havoc on vital British imports. But by 1943 with the convoy system and air support from both sides of the ocean leaving only a gap in the very middle, the back of U-boat interdiction was broken. So that’s when rationing was eliminated or cut back right? Or at least after the war ended, right? Wrong. Newton struck again. The Ministry of Food had determined it could better distribute food than the free market, that it could be more “fair.” Yet of course the rich were able to buy anything available on the black market so rationing was inherently unfair. The Ministry kept adding more foods and other commodities to the list including paper and clothing. Socialist George Orwell complained it was hard to get a book printed. When the Labour Party took over in 1945 it was only too eager to micromanage consumption and bread was rationed only after the war, in July 1946. “It was not until the early 1950s that most commodities came ‘off the ration.’ Meat was the last item to be de-rationed and food rationing ended completely in 1954,” according to the Imperial War Museums Website. So “wartime rationing” was essentially one-third during war, two-thirds in peacetime. And while the Tories finally ended peacetime rationing, even they waited a few years to do so. Again, the public had to make it clear that enough was enough. Or perhaps the other way around, they weren’t getting enough. Meanwhile rationing in West Germany ended in 1950.
[The author, writing from Cebu, Philippine Islands, paints a not-very-pretty picture of our possible future and makes a really good point: we should establish a firm set of conditions and/or date when the “COVID-19 restrictions” go away. Otherwise, our grandchildren may still be wearing masks and staying six feet apart from each other as adults, 30 years from now. Ron P.]
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