For nearly a year, American citizens have been subjected to relentless, unconstitutional, and morally reprehensible abuse at the hands of our government. Not long ago it would have been unthinkable that our government would ever usurp authority not belonging to it and exercise the amoral power of a tyrant to close our businesses and schools, force us out of work, control our every movement, and compel us to wear masks over our faces.
More disturbing than the government’s abuse is the total acceptance of these obscene acts and the loyal obedience by many fellow citizens. More frightening still, these same obedient Americans defend our government captors. The uncomfortable truth is that far too many abused Americans are exhibiting classic symptoms of Stockholm syndrome.
This bizarre psychological condition was named after an event that occurred in Stockholm, Sweden in 1973. Four people who had been held hostage for six days after a bank robbery were finally freed and then, bizarrely, refused to testify against their captors. Stranger still, these hostages began to raise money for their captors’ defense.
One of the primary symptoms of Stockholm syndrome is the development of negative feelings by the victim toward anyone who might try to help him get away from his captor. I experienced this first hand in the state of California.
After nine months of abuse by our captor, Governor Gavin Newsom, I began to speak out in defense of restaurants and other small businesses in Napa County, where I live.
I was incensed when I saw that the once-proud owner of a small indoor tasting room in downtown St. Helena, which had been renovated in March, had been forced to close permanently after nine months of unfair and discriminatory mandated closure.
While this owner’s business had been unfairly targeted and deemed nonessential, neighboring clothing and retail stores had been permitted to remain open. Locals and tourists were forbidden from ordering a glass of wine but moved freely about inside other similarly sized establishments.
When Newsom banned both indoor and outdoor dining at restaurants, the city of St. Helena, like many other cities, blocked off a road and turned it into a public square with unsupervised outdoor dining tables and encouraged patrons to order their food to go and dine. I lambasted the unforgivable and obvious hypocrisy—how can outdoor dining at a restaurant be forbidden but outdoor dining at a city-sanctioned square be encouraged?
I observed my neighbors jogging through empty streets with masks on their faces, and others stiffen with terror, fasten their masks to their faces, and jump out of the way as a stranger approached in the distance. I watched married couples walking their dogs with masks over their faces, knowing that only an hour before they had been sleeping in the same bed.
Pointing out this irrationality, and publicly asking others to consider not only the harm caused by the virus but also the harm inflicted on those who were victims of the lockdowns incited retaliation without mercy. When I compared the mandate of wearing a mask to Nazi Germany’s requirement that Jews wear a Star of David, many of my closest friends—all liberal Democrats—expressed concern for my mental health, cursed my name, and canceled me from their lives.
My point, of course, was that the mandate of masks and the mandate of wearing the star of David were both seemingly harmless demands; mere inconveniences, but represented something much more dangerous and revealed something frightening about those in power who would compel such obedience. This astute and truthful analogy was lost on many, and for my crime of critiquing the oppressor and defending the oppressed, I became the villain.
Time has only proven my observation correct, just as “Mandalorian” actress Gina Carano’s cancellation proved her observation correct when she compared our dangerous political climate to that of Nazi Germany.
While those suffering from Stockholm syndrome develop negative feelings toward those who seek to help them, they also develop positive feelings for those who abuse them. Look at what is happening with the latest federal “stimulus” bill.
Many of our citizens laud the leadership of the Democrats to pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. Democrats dangle a gross $1,400 dollar check in front of our faces and call it an act of compassion. Many Americans shout in reply, “Yes! Thank you!” while forgetting their benevolent and celebrated Democratic politicians are the very people who, through their abusive actions, necessitated such “compassion” in the first place.
Worse, these stimulus checks are beginning to resemble a new permanent welfare program—new ammunition for the Democratic Party to use to secure votes and to attack fiscally and morally responsible Republicans who may object. My vote cannot be bought. The Democratic Party is holding the citizens of this country hostage. While we are all their victims, the Democratic voters in this country suffer from the additional psychological condition of Stockholm syndrome.