Cause we got a little ol' convoy
Rockin' through the night
Yeah, we got a little ol' convoy
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the USA
Convoy!
C.W. McCall, “Convoy”, 1975
Earlier this year, we saw up in Canada the Freedom Convoy. In case you were living under a rock at the time, truckers from across Canada barricaded the border with the U.S. and descended on Ottawa protesting COVID vaccine requirements on truckers. The disruptive but peaceful protests became a cause célèbre among American conservative circles, particularly after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s radical implementation of the Emergencies Act to disperse it.
That brings us to the so-called “People’s Convoy” that’s descended upon Maryland.
The idea of it all was that truckers from across the country would drive from California to Washington, D.C. in order to protest (what else) vaccine mandates. From their website:
TRUCKER’S DECLARATION
“We the People of the United States, in Order to restore our once perfect Union, re-establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense of all, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty, do ordain and establish the restoration movement of The People’s Convoy for the United States of America.”
WE DEMAND THE DECLARATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CONCERNING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC BE LIFTED IMMEDIATELY AND OUR CHERISHED CONSTITUTION REIGN SUPREME.
WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND WE STAND TOGETHER UNDER THE BANNER OF FREEDOM – FREEDOM IS THE ONE THING THAT UNITES US ALL. LIBERTY FLOWS THROUGH ALL OF OUR VEINS.
If you’re curious, the National Emergency Declaration that was issued by Donald Trump two years ago said:
Section 1. Emergency Authority. The Secretary of HHS may exercise the authority under section 1135 of the SSA to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements of the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children's Health Insurance programs and of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule throughout the duration of the public health emergency declared in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Sec. 2. Certification and Notice. In exercising this authority, the Secretary of HHS shall provide certification and advance written notice to the Congress as required by section 1135(d) of the SSA (42 U.S.C. 1320b-5(d)).
Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This proclamation shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
The National Emergency in and of itself has not been the boogeyman that the Convoy organizers think it is. But I digress.
The question I have is this: what is the convoy protesting anymore? COVID, for all intents and practical purposes, is over. Mask mandates are virtually nonexistent outside of airports and airplanes. Discussions of mask mandates have quieted down after the failure of the Biden Administration’s short-sighted vaccine mandates. So what is the Convoy truly protesting anymore?
One person apparently is using the convoy to protest….to support voter ID laws?
But for some protestors, the motivation goes beyond COVID-19 related issues. One man told James he was driving in support of voter ID laws.
“I can’t function in the United States without showing my driver’s license to go anywhere. Why should it be any different if I’m voting?”
From what I can tell, the People’s Convoy, in reality, is little more than the next evolution of the useless Overpass Movement, which became useless Boat Parades, which became useless car parades. Except this one is disrupting traffic on the Capital Beltway, a regional chokepoint that suffers from traffic on good days. At least this group has the common courtesy to not do their thing during rush hour. But even most of the convoy participants, from the photos and videos that I have seen, aren’t even tuckers; they are people in regular vehicles who are just engaging in just another car parade.
The usual suspects who love this kind of stuff of course all over the People’s Convoy.
But what is the People’s Convoy really accomplishing? They drove from across the country to Hagerstown, Maryland to camp out. They then drive a 191 mile roundtrip from the Hagerstown Speedway to the Beltway and back. And then they go to bed. That’s it. The big accomplishment so far? Meeting with Senators Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson, who already agree with everything they say.
The People’s Convoy, ultimately, is nothing more than just another Trump-era protest. A protest that accomplishes nothing other than making its participants feel good about participating.
Every dollar donated or spent on this convoy was a dollar that could have been donated to a candidate.
Every hour spent in a car or truck was an hour that could have been spent making phone calls on behalf of a candidate.
Every hour spent volunteering to distribute breakfast to truckers was an hour that could have been spent knocking doors.
Every candidate who went to Hagerstown Speedway to talk to the Truckers (most of which aren’t voters in Maryland, Pennsylvania, or the surrounding areas) is a candidate who isn’t serious about running for office.
When will conservatives realize that the movement used to be better than this?
Convoy To Nowhere
Hi Brian, The National Emergency Act was extended by Joe Biden last month without an end date. The pandemic is in its very final stages and the power the federal government gave itself is unnecessary.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/02/23/2022-03972/continuation-of-the-national-emergency-concerning-the-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-pandemic
With the National Emergency Act in place, the federal government can seize property, seize commodities, send military forces overseas, institute martial law, seize and control transportation and communication, and restrict travel.