In an op-ed at the propagandist New York Times called “The Coronavirus Made the Radical Possible,” writer Rachel Cohen argues that although the COVID pandemic has been a “nightmare,” it should be celebrated because it facilitated far-left policies that had once merely been “pipe dreams.”
“Last spring, as a poorly understood virus swept the planet, something remarkable happened: Across the country, all levels of government put in place policies that just a few months earlier would have been seen by most people — not to mention most politicians — as radical and politically naïve,” Cohen gushed.
“Nearly 70 percent of states ordered bans on utility shut-offs, and more than half did so for evictions. Mayors authorized car-free streets to make cities safer for pedestrians, and the federal government nearly tripled the average unemployment benefit. Within weeks, states eliminated extortionist medical co-pays for prisoners and scrapped bail. New Jersey passed a bill that released more than 2,200 incarcerated people all at once,” she continued breathlessly.
“It is essential we get the word out on what has been accomplished as a result of this crisis and what our government still can do [emphasis added], and to remember what grass-roots activists understand deeply,” she added. “Whether anything happens at all is largely up to us.”
By “grass-roots activists,” what she means is her fellow leftists at all levels (including in a leftist-controlled government, news media, entertainment industry, and academia) who knew not to let a good crisis go to waste, and who seized the opportunity to fundamentally transform the United States.