I have had the opportunity to travel the United States of America several times since the beginning of May. I think it is important to relate my experiences, to put the civil unrest in perspective.
I traveled to West Virginia in the first week of May, Florida in the second week of June, Nevada in the third week of June, and Chicago in the third week of July.
I am happy to report that America is opening up.
During the first three trips, the airplanes were only 40% to 60% full. The airports were so vacant as to be unnerving. There was only one vendor in each concurs open for business; often a meal, sometimes even a cup of coffee, was unavailable. This last trip the airplanes were 60% to 90% full. I have to say the flights in and out of Manchester on American Airlines were uncomfortably full. By the way, no food or beverage service on the airplanes.
The trip to West Virginia was to a very rural area, so nothing really to report there. However, other trips put me in very suburban areas. There was no difficulty finding a dine-in restaurant. The mood in Nevada was decidedly anti-shutdown, even defiant. In Illinois, though I flew in and out of O’Hare Airport, I was in a very suburban area, neighborhood after neighborhood of 600 ft² to 2000 ft² houses punctuated by wooded areas and industrial complexes. Seeing the people in the community, the population was probably 60% to 70% black. Life was very normal. Everyone was polite. Everyone was simply working, going about their daily business, trying to live as normally as possible.
Why is this important? Because I was less than 30 miles from one of the centers of unrest. Speaking to one of the engineers working at the plant, he and his wife are avid bicyclists, and during the pandemic they have been cycling through Chicago proper, only to marvel at its vacancy. His wife and her mother went to Trump Tower (Chicago), and were there when BLM-Antifa marched upon it. They reported it as fascinating, but they weren’t particularly scared.
But in Lansing, and Chicago Heights, you would never know it was happening. I consistently wore my Gadsden cap. There was never any reaction other than an occasional nod of approval. In the airports, I saw several pro-Trump face masks. Never did I see a pro-Biden face mask.
Why is all this important? Every day the news tells of the political meltdown that is occurring. No doubt, the unrest is real, and much of it violent. But while it is a mile deep, it appears to be only an inch wide. Even in areas near the unrest, with population demographics that could support the unrest, it is not there. Instead, the people are simply going about their daily lives, working to put things back together, and hoping they can get a little farther ahead. Just like in New Hampshire, life outside of New Hampshire is very normal, as least as much as it can be with the government disrupting the normalcy, and the mainstream media sowing unrest and revolution. Many of our elected leaders are in fear of, and bowing to, and surrendering our liberties an extreme minority.
