Hillary wants to fix America’s loneliness epidemic

A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog post, The federal government wants to manage our social connections, about a new National Strategy for Social Connection Act, introduced by Senator Chris Murphy, a very liberal Democrat from Connecticut. While most people probably will just dismiss this as more feel-good government posturing or as a family member told me they probably are concerned about addiction, I feel this is going to be another stealth effort to increase federal power and will go well beyond trying to help individuals with problems stemming from addiction, social isolation and helping communities promote “social connection.”

Lo’ and behold, a couple days ago, our premier social architect, the village expert herself, Hillary Rodham Clinton, penned a piece, The Weaponization of Loneliness: To defend America against those who would exploit our social disconnection, we need to rebuild our communities, in The Atlantic. Naturally, in her world everything that’s wrong with America is the fault of the “vast, right-wing conspiracy” and protecting Americans from right-wing demagogues plays large in her remedy for repairing social connection… Of course, one can only wonder what she’s got in mind to deal with the “basket of deplorables” and all the people who don’t agree with liberal policies…

As I mentioned in my previous post about this new “social connection” proposed federal government effort, Stella Morabito wrote a book last year titled: The Weaponization of Loneliness: How Tyrants Stoke Our Fear Of Isolation To Silence, Divide, And Conquer, in which she explains the history of Utopian revolutions, conformity impulse and mob formation. She makes a case for American identity politics and the leftist long march through our American institutions with the culture war and feminist movement being part of the vanguard leading to the social isolation and dislocation in so many families and communities. Hillary’s version of the “weaponization of loneliness” seems like she took Morabito’s ideas and flipped the script.

I’ll take a pass on any “social connection” policies Democrats and liberal social engineers conjure up, thanks!

We’re headed toward a digital currency, where our every online transaction would be tracked, and our every click online could be monitored to keep track of where we go online and our cell phones and in newer cars our location can be tracked too. Even newer household appliances can be monitored if you set up the app on your phone and turn on, for instance, your clothes dryer with your cell phone – the government could monitor when and how often you’re using your dryer.

The federal government collecting data about our “social connections” didn’t give me the warm fuzzies, but made me pause and keep repeating their innocuous sounding term, “social connections,” which could encompass surveillance of all of our movements.

Assuredly, a federal program designed and managed by leftists, who want federal government control of everything, would intrude into state and local jurisdictions on things like zoning and planning decisions to restructure communities that promote “social connection” and deal with communities where resources aren’t distributed “fairly” in disadvantaged neighborhoods. This will be another redistributive extravaganza, well beyond eliminating “food deserts” that was a Democrat pet project in the 90s and early 2000s.

“Fair share” was the old leftist lingo, while now it’s all about diversity, equity and inclusion, however, my gut instinct is that this benign- sounding, “social connections” program about helping combat the loneliness epidemic is similar to what was hidden from us during the pandemic “social mitigation” programs, where churches were closed, people were forced to close their businesses, lost jobs, couldn’t visit dying loved ones in the hospital or nursing homes, couldn’t even hold funerals in some cases, faced both arrest and social ostracism in some places. “Social mitigation” was sold to us as being good people, who didn’t want to spread illness to others.

Many Dems and liberal media folks have tried to selectively remember the draconian actions during the pandemic, but it’s important to remember what happened and be on guard against allowing the government to intrude into our daily lives and interfere in the exercise of our personal liberties. We must safeguard our private spaces from government intrusion or we’ll lose all of our personal liberties.

In 2020 Governor Gavin Newsom of CA issued Thanksgiving COVID guidelines that even told citizens how to manage the bathroom for guests in their own homes:

“Gatherings are defined as social situations that bring together people from different households at the same time in a single space or place. When people from different households mix, this increases the risk of transmission of COVID-19,” the CDPH said in a statement.

All gatherings must include no more than three households, including hosts and guests, and must be held outdoors, lasting for two hours of less.

“The longer the duration [of the gathering], the risk of transmission increases,” the statement noted.

“Gatherings that occur outdoors are significantly safer than indoor gatherings. All gatherings must be held outside. Attendees may go inside to use restrooms as long as the restrooms are frequently sanitized,” the statement added.”

https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-california-gavin-newsom-new-rules-gatherings-thanksgiving-1541402

I believe the loneliness problem is a real thing, considering the fall-out from school closures/lockdowns during the pandemic, decades of family structure breakdown, fraying of community bonds, decline in church-going, and the negative impacts of social media replacing real-life friendships. The left’s progressive culture movements and government policies facilitated and helped create many of our social ills, so the last people I would trust for a remedy are progressive “experts,” like the ones we were told to trust during the pandemic. In fact, there are still diehard COVID social mitigation proponents and plenty of Dem activists and politicians, who would avidly impose more rules on Americans’ daily lives. There are even “zero-COVID” true-believers in America, who believe that if more stringent social mitigation rules, like China tried, were imposed, COVID could be eradicated and there are still some masking zealots. I also suspect there are more than a few liberals who would not be opposed to forced relocation of Americans whom they consider “MAGA” or those “basket of deplorables” Hillary finds not fit for polite society.

Dealing with such a vaguely defined problem as “social connections” could encompass just about every activity humans engage in and that, I suspect, was why Democrats used this nebulous term – it disarms most Americans, because it sounds harmless and caring. It could also, in the hands of governmental “expert” busybodies, who think they know what’s best for all of us, include massive surveillance and data collection on individuals’ daily lives, to include our associations within our own neighborhoods and communities. You could get evaluated on the clubs or organization you join, the people you hang out with, where you shop, etc. It could include a federal effort to decide how our communities should be set up to best enhance “social connection,” based on some sort of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) criteria. Not only could schools, churches, private organizations, and private businesses be evaluated on whether they promote “social connection,” but assuredly they’d be evaluated on “social justice” and “environmental justice” goals too. In another post about climate change I’m thinking about writing, I’ll include how “environmental justice” is integral in the Biden climate change agenda – so even with a supposed climate crisis – all the other identity politics gets worked in like this: Biden signs order protecting Grand Canyon lands sacred to tribes.

A “social connections” program about helping combat the loneliness epidemic in America might be even more intrusive than the pandemic “social mitigation” efforts.

Don’t let soft and fuzzy words fool you. The government is not your friend, nor should you trust the government to manage your “social connections.”