It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote about why conservatives have a natural suspicion, if not dislike, of government.

Keeping it simple: Government has completely lost sight of who they work for. Adding to this, the people have completely lost sight of who the government works for.

We don’t hold our government accountable, and we don’t know how to tell them when enough’s enough.

Because of our government, we’re all staying home to “flatten the curve.” But all that means is giving the hospitals time to prepare for when the virus really does a number on us. Well, the hospitals have had time, so why delay the inevitable? Let’s get out there, start passing this thing around, and start building our immunity.

What I’m more alarmed about is why no one seems to have noticed, or be concerned about the fact that government employees are all being paid. Why are they not subject to the same lost wages of the private sector?

Think about the circle of life we’ve created for ourselves:

  1. The private sector creates wealth (or at least wages).
  2. Private citizens involuntarily pay a portion of those wages to the government.
  3. The government uses those wages to pay a bunch of people more than their private sector equivalents to barely serve us (with no repercussions for poor service).

And think about what happens when the government shuts down. The media panics and showers us with stories of how government employees are going to starve (even though they never go without a paycheck). And Democrats scream that we can’t do this, and Republicans are evil.

Now, the government shuts down private industry, destroying the economy, and the media showers us with stories about how we all have to stay inside, and Democrats insist we maintain the shutdown indefinitely.

Did I mention that government employees are getting paid?

Wouldn’t you like to know the government’s perspective on shutting down the economy if all government employees who weren’t working right now stopped getting paid? Do you think our approach would be any different?

Wouldn’t it be interesting if our elected officials, who get paid from our wallets, stopped receiving a paycheck as long as they shut down our economy?

I wonder what the prescription would be then. Perhaps the Swedish model?