A lot of politicians want to use the pandemic to usher in a new kind of world that gives governments more power and hurts individual liberty.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

iTunesStitcherSpotifyTuneInGoogle Podcasts

Here’s a transcript of our conversation:

Brittany: Hi, Emma.

Emma: Hi, Brittany.

Brittany: So you and I have talked about this thing called the Great Reset before, briefly just in passing in other episodes. And today I wanna really dive into this cuz I act. I see this is a pretty big problem. I’ve also seen it used interchangeably, like some people using it in a more positive light. Some people, you know, reading it in a more negative light. So I really want to dive into that. But before I do, Emma, I would be wondering if you could read the World Economic Forums definition of what the Great Reset is.

Emma:

Yes, it is. let me see here. Okay. The World Economic Forum’s Great Reset Initiative seeks new ideas in order to use this unique moment in history provided by the disruption to economics, politics, and our everyday life to catalyze a new approach to how our societies are run.

Brittany: See, and that’s terrifying to me for a lot of reasons. But so obviously the great reset is about COVID, right? We’ve all been told that our world is never gonna be the same again. Everything is different now, which is probably pretty true just because of the way people have been reacting to it. But, we’re constantly hearing about this is time for the great reset. This is time for this, blah, blah, blah. I am very concerned about this. Even if we look at this definition, let’s use this unique port of part of history to, you know, change not just politics, but the economy. Yeah. Every day life. It flat out outside everyday life. So this is very, very scary to me. The scariest part is we’re already seeing this, there’s a guy named Ram Emmanuel not great, Chicago politician, former Chicago. Was he a governor? Was he mayor? What was he?

Emma: I think he was mayor of Chicago.

Brittany: He was mayor. Obviously. I always, this is embarrassing. I always forget that Chicago is a city in Illinois. Not a state. It’s funny. Oops, don’t tell anybody. So, he said once, never let a good crisis go to waste. And this is quite profound because all politicians do this. They use a problem to change the way the world is. We saw this, well, you guys didn’t, you probably weren’t alive yet, but during nine 11, we saw the war on terror be used for us to give up our freedoms, to let the government listen in our calls and, you know, practice surveillance. And we lost all this freedom at the airport. So this is something that happens all the time. Well, now we’re going through this other, you know, quote-unquote great reset where people are trying to change the way society is run. And here’s what’s funny about me. This isn’t even some happy utopia. Like, this isn’t even this like, oh, if we all, I’m not saying communism doesn’t play a role, but it’s not like if we’re all communist and shared, the world’s gonna be great. No. What this great reset has done is be scared of your neighbors. Yeah. If your neighbor does not get a shot or wear a mask, then your neighbor is the enemy. Your neighbor hates freedom. If your neighbor, you know, liked, voted for President Trump, or if your neighbor did this and that, or is like right-wing, they’re a terrorist. They’re this. Yeah. And it’s really to me because this great reset is basically pitting us against each other and saying if you don’t believe in this great reset if you don’t believe, you know, that the, you know, all this government propaganda that you are part of the problem. And this is so scary to me because, you know, the one thing we could have done together during COVID has come together as a community, whether that’s physically or not, you know? We don’t really know at this point. We still don’t know a lot about this, you know, this virus. But people isolated, they got really sad. Their mental health struggle and drug overdoses were up and we just sat there fighting with our neighbors. So that’s one part about this to me that I am very scared of.

Emma: Yeah, absolutely. And I think the encouragement to snitch on your neighbors too is just so creepy to me. Like, there are all of these states that have set up hotlines to report COVID violations and stuff. And that to me is just like really, really strange that the government is actively encouraging us to snitch on each other. I remember for Thanksgiving, a couple of years ago, my family was in Oregon, thankfully they’re in Tennessee now with me in a free state. But they were in Oregon. And the rule was that you can’t have more than six people gathered for Thanksgiving dinner, even if it was your immediate family, by the way. So I think our family would’ve actually exceeded that,

Brittany: Broke the rules.

Emma: And been breaking the law rules. Yeah. But they actually set up a hotline to report neighbors who seem to my goodness, to be having too big of a gathering. And I just was thinking, man, give me a break. This is so absurd. But yeah, there’s the whole like snitching on your neighbors. Your neighbor is your enemy, but also this idea that you have to do your part or you’re a bad person. And there’s nothing wrong with people doing their part for certain things like taking personal responsibility and that sort of thing. but this is different. This is doing your part of what the government thinks you should do. Right. Not what’s actually best for you. Not what’s in your best interest, not what’s, you know, gonna be the best fit for your community, but doing your part by, oh, I don’t know, wearing a mask everywhere or getting a, you know, government vaccine that they’re pushing really hard. And again, if doing one of those things is in your best interest, then, by all means, do it. That’s great. That’s your right. But when the government is pushing so hard for all of us to follow along as if it’s patriotic for us to just do what we’re told no matter what and not asking any questions like we’re, you know, drones or something, or clones or whatever. It’s . I said drones instead of clones. We’re not drones.

Brittany: I like clones though. I was like, all right.

Emma: I’m thinking of like Blade Runner where you just are like kind of going along with whatever.

Brittany: Blade Runner.

Emma: Ooh, it’s a good one. You should watch it. . But yeah, I think this whole idea that we all just need to do as we’re told or else is really, really scary. And it’s sad to me that it’s gotten so far even in America where that is not how our country works. You we don’t let ourselves be threatened by the government to follow XYZ rules or else, you know, we’re supposed to have consent over the rules that are placed on us. And that has just really kind of gone out the window in a lot of ways leading up to now. But I think COVID has made it really obvious that, you know, the government thinks that it can just tell us what to do and we will all just follow along. They say jump, we say how high. Yeah. Which is pretty absurd.

Brittany: It is. And so, you know, when I had you read that definition, it came from the World Economic Forum. And so I wanna put an emphasis that a lot of this is about economics, right? Yeah. And there’s two aspects to this. One there is the aspect of, because we saw the economy crash, which was government’s fault, right? We need to bring in more government so that this never happens again. Now this gets even worse cuz remember this is the World Economic Forum. So this is now saying we need some sort of world plan. And you and I talked about globalism before and how people think that that’s what globalism is. But in reality, globalism is like free trade with other countries. Like it’s a good thing. Yeah. Now this brand of globalism, which isn’t really the real one, is basically saying we need to have a unified government, you know, taking everything over with the economy so that this never happens again. But one thing we’ve learned is not only can governments not prevent, you know, they can’t do anything. Yeah. Like they make the economy worse, is what I was meaning to say. Yeah. It’s not that that they ev have ever made it better. So that’s really scary to me. Cuz this great reset is not only a chance to usher in what are purely collectivists and even, you know, Marxist communist types policies where we’re told we have to share, we’re told that you know, we’re all gonna get paid a certain amount and maybe, maybe things are rationed. Remember when the pandemic happened, they had to ration toilet paper and they had to ration, you know, hand sanitizer? So this is really scary to me because I am frightened that our economic way of life is going to change if this great reset is able to happen.

Emma: Absolutely. Even just dependency on the government too. Yes, there are so many more people, you know, taking these unemployment checks from the government than there were at the beginning. And I do sympathize with a lot of folks because government shut down entire business sectors. Yes. With no warning, no time to prepare. So I’m not saying that, you know, if you are on unemployment or if you lost your job, you’re a bad person. I’m actually blaming the government for coming in and like you said, Brittany, just taking control and artificially shutting down the economy. That put a lot of people in a really bad spot. But then also, you know, we’ve talked about cause and effect and how unemployment, you know, offering more money for unemployment than you would make working can cause some really crazy things to happen with the labor market. I think that’s a huge, huge problem. And I think that the government has just kind of created this crazy program of paying people not to do anything. And it’s very strange because, you know, obviously we want economists on of all stripes, pretty much, maybe not all, but most economists agree that it’s good when people are working. It’s called productivity. And you want people working and earning money and spending money, that’s a good thing. But to incentivize not working, it kind of makes sense why there’s not as many people filling these jobs and there’s so many open jobs right now and no one is taking them. So, I think we’ve really created kind of a monster problem when it comes to, well, the government promised to pay people these benefits. Now what are you gonna do now that you want them all to go back to work? It’s not that easy. You can’t just snap your fingers and undo all of that. So it’s a big problem. And there’s an old phrase that there’s nothing harder to end than an entitlement. And that’s what, oh yeah, that’s what unemployment is. I don’t know if that was Reagan or someone like him or it’s one of those quotes that gets floated around all the time. But, yeah, an entitlement is like social security. It’s quote-unquote free college, free healthcare. And I think this unemployment program and the huge, you know, boost that they gave to it during COVID, I think that was a massive entitlement that’s going to be very, very, very hard to end without bad effects, which is what we’re seeing right now.

Brittany: No, you’re absolutely right. And I, you know, I would just leave it with like closing thoughts of be very careful when you hear people talk about the great reset, especially when you hear them talking about it as if it’s something that’s going to change our world for the better. Our world is not perfect. It wasn’t perfect before COVID. It certainly isn’t perfect now, but it’s going to be a lot worse if this kind of stuff is allowed to happen. So, be constantly vigilant.

Emma: Yes. That is a good closing word. We will wrap it up right there guys. And talk to you all again very soon.

Brittany: Thank you, bye.