If there was any doubt that Democrats would try to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis and the stock market crash, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, South Carolina Democrat, eliminated it.

The U.S. House Majority Whip, who almost single-handedly saved Joe Biden’s bacon in the Palmetto State’s primary, advised his fellow Democrats to see this as a “tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”

This mirrors Rahm Emanuel’s famous admonition, “you don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste. It’s an opportunity to do things you would otherwise avoid.”

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has packed all sorts of leftist wish list items into the bailout, despite some Republican Senate opposition.  There’s $50 million for legal services for the poor; $75 million for federal arts programs, and $25 million for the Kennedy Center so congressmen won’t miss their favorite shows.

It still wasn’t clear how many items survived in the final version. The Dems wanted federal money for abortions and fetal tissue research.  They wanted to weaken state election safeguards by mandating national early voting, same-day voter registration and absentee balloting without voter ID.  They also wanted student loan forgiveness, “green” offsets on carbon and forcing a “diversity” agenda on corporations.

Although much of the bill will help revive the economy, it has billions for massive expansion of federal welfare programs without a clear indication that these are temporary fixes. This fits Mr. Clyburn’s and Mr. Emanuel’s socialist vision of using a calamity to permanently expand government.

Government is the Left’s religion.  It has angels and devils.  The high priests of the media tell us who’s who.  Tithes are mandatory, and paid as taxes, but they come in other forms as well.   Such as turning our daughters over to the tender mercies of the administrative state.

The National Commission on Military, National and Public Service, a congressional panel championed by the late Sen. John McCain, has seized the moment to advocate mandatory registration of all young women for the draft.  For years, women have served admirably in many capacities, just not deliberately in direct combat.

Women have been exempted from the draft, and military women from combat, because they’re the bearers of life and primary caregivers.  Plus, men are better equipped for combat.

In 1981, in Rostker v. Goldberg, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that because women don’t serve in combat, they’re ineligible for the military draft.  That civilized distinction was removed in 2015 under President Obama, who purposely sent women into battle.

Now comes what the commission calls a “once-in-a-generation moment” to sweep aside the ages-old protection of women as non-combatants.

“At a time when our country is having extremely important conversations about our path forward, we should be prioritizing the recommendations coming out of this commission and working to make them a reality,” said former Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, known mainly for commanding U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Translation: Let’s ram this through while people are terrified and distracted.

It isn’t just the military.   The Deep State has a profound interest in reframing citizens’ relationship with our government.  Proponents of mandatory national service, for example, tout “fairness” to make everyone serve, not just volunteers.

This flies in the face of the nation’s founding by people who saw government as a necessary evil, not a panacea for all the world’s problems.

During each major war, from the Civil War through Vietnam, the national state has expanded its powers.   The same thing happened during the Great Depression and the 2008-2009 recession.

Growing the state is the primary focus of leftists, regardless of their particular issues.  People under an all-powerful state can be forced to lie and to betray their consciences.  Free people, not so much.

Conflating voluntary service with mandatory service is a huge lie.  The Mormon church encourages young men to serve as missionaries for two years, and young women for 18 months. But it is a voluntary religious duty.  When government mandates behavior, it can use force, which distinguishes government from the rest of civil society.

The healthiest arrangement is subsidiarity, whereby people closest to those in need know best what’s needed.  It starts with the family, then the churches, synagogues, neighbors, local community and on up to the county, state and national governments.

The Left has this backwards, preferring to start with big government.  It doesn’t matter that this often does deep damage to the rest of civil society.   In fact, that’s the point.

Having so many independent, self-governing folks is deplorable to them.  As is exempting our daughters from the draft.