To any casual observer of American politics over the last several years, it should come as no surprise when the statement is made that the COVID-19 pandemic that gripped the entire world in the year 2020 left an irrevocable impression on the state of communities, the economy and social culture at large at nearly every level of governance across nations worldwide. In the United states, following the murder of George Floyd that spring at the height of the pandemic, civil unrest became widespread in urban centers across the country and activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement openly rioted in the streets while the facing and destroying monuments to notable people in the overarching history of America.
The effects of this cultural battle remain ongoing, but ultimately the data shows that young Americans have a very poor understanding of their history in large part due to the poor implementation of a public school history curriculum. In education in general, though, the pandemic had severe effects on the most vulnerable of children. Children residing in Democrat controlled states that were forced to attend school “remotely” from home for many years suffered the most, with widespread learning loss being common. Valuable time was lost in their formative years, when social manners and communication skills are usually crafted. The economic devastation of the pandemic is widely discussed, but the effect on young people remains a minority focus.
In Congress, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has been a stalwart advocate for the addressing of the serious consequences in relation to the actions that occurred during the pandemic. In a recent article, Paul stated that Senate Republicans pushed for information from the Biden administration regarding the origins of the virus. He also said that Anthony Fauci (the face of the federal response to the virus) was well aware of the risks of an outbreak that the laboratory in China posed as early as 2012.
