Kerby Anderson

Stephen Moore is an economics columnist who has written for the Wall Street Journal and National Review. His recent Washington Examiner column talked about how the pandemic and the lockdown highlighted the differences between the Right and the Left. He discussed eleven differences, but let’s just look at three.

“The Right believes that stay-at-home orders and social distancing requirements are counterproductive and should be repealed safely and immediately. The Left believes that those orders must stay in place but should only apply to those on the Right, not to liberal protesters.” Over these last few months we have seen how inconsistently some governors and other political leaders have applied shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders.

“The Right believes the best way to revive the economy is to incentivize a dormant workforce to get back on the job. The Left believes that the best way to revive the economy is to pay people more money not to work than to work.” In previous commentaries, I’ve discussed how providing generous benefits to unemployed people has become a disincentive for them to return to work.

“The Right believes there are limits to how much governments can spend and borrow to avoid national bankruptcy and financial ruin. The Left believes that trillions of dollars of added spending and debt are advisable and benign.” This is one place where I disagree with Stephen Moore. I wish there were more people on either the Right or Left who expressed much concern about government spending. Yes, we need to help people and businesses that are hurting, but there will be a financial price to pay for all this spending.

What we have been through these many months is unprecedented. The pandemic and the lockdown have also exposed the clear differences between the Right and the Left.