Not many people expected the drastic measures that governments would take during the so-called pandemic of 2020. We had lived through bird flu, swine flu, and many other scares without significant restrictions being imposed on us. In the early days of February 2020, the situation with COVID seemed just like the other fake pandemics. It looked like the latest scare that would eventually pass until the next news cycle. However, not long after, extreme lockdown measures were implemented - social distancing, mask mandates, the shutdown of many small businesses. These lockdowns were supposedly enacted to end the pandemic but had longstanding consequences.

Worldwide, the COVID lockdowns and other control mechanisms gave authorities a justification to gain power for themselves. These included the power to track others with digital passports as well as to gain additional control over the monetary policy. We see this now in China where the government holds extreme power over its citizens. The government has issued orders that citizens must follow a Zero Covid Policy, but their real purpose was for the government to attain more power. Might world governments continue to look for more excuses for lockdowns? In the West, it’s unlikely that locking down for a pandemic will be accepted again. However, there are other methods authorities may try to continue to seize power.

The next lockdowns may not be over pandemics, but climate change. With the justification of hitting emissions goals, governments may mandate that we undergo lockdowns to prevent driving and shopping, thus forcing down emissions but taking away many freedoms at the same time. The real concerns about the need to protect the environment may be exploited for malicious purposes. What do those in power stand to gain from lockdowns? Not just power, but money. During the pandemic, the ten richest men doubled their net worth, while the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fell. Sure, in the U.S. we got $1,200 in relief, but was that enough? Not to allay the cost-of-living increases in most cities. While we struggled as ordinary citizens, the governments let the extremely wealthy make off with enormous gains.

We can be sure that if there is a climate lockdown, corporations will receive most of the benefit. They will once again claim that they are the most damaged and that they need funding to continue, and the average citizens will once again pay the price. We lived through other situations that exemplify this possibility. Not just 2020 and Covid, but the 2008 financial crisis. Direct bailouts were given to the very wealthy instead of to struggling citizens. Crash the economy and then ask for help from taxpayers. We see this strategy played out again and again by the financial elite.

What we also should be concerned with is the imposition of a wide surveillance state by the government. This can lead to a system that can be abused and lead to oppression. For example, in China, people have their COVID passports marked red if they are involved in political activism or what was deemed to be anti-government activities. One day the government may very well track everyone’s carbon emissions. What if someone is within the guidelines but loses rights because of their political leanings or individual views? Many people in the U.S. are ignoring these possibilities and calling them, (as the mainstream media have trained them to believe) “conspiracy theories.” “What’s happening in China can never happen here.” To them I say, look at the past three years and tell me massive control over the populace isn’t possible in the U.S.

We’ve seen many health freedom groups be censored in the online sphere. Even more sinister, many have experienced financial censorship as well. Their assets were frozen, and they were unable to continue accepting donations or access their money. Financial oppression is something most people fear, and this is the most likely form that censorship will take in the future. Billionaires have nothing to be afraid of but people who live paycheck to paycheck and need money to pay bills cannot afford to be at the mercy of a government who wants to control their actions. Just ask the people of China. We must speak out against these very real threats now before they can be allowed to reach that point. Remember that Canada has already implemented the freezing of bank accounts. If other governments follow their example, enactment of this kind of financial censorship may happen in other countries as it has in Canada, starting from the top down in investment banking and ending with the average citizen.

Many corporations now won't invest in companies if they don't meet a certain ESG rating. The rating was seemingly created to solve very real environmental challenges but what happens when this system becomes abused and not just companies, but individuals are marked as undesirable within the financial system? Those who believe that the elite are benign, are not lusting for more money and power, and talking about a bunch of old billionaires plotting to control us is nothing but “conspiracy theories, need to wake up. Complacency and inaction lead to tyranny. Ask anyone living in China or under any other dictatorship.