Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Civil Liberties

Way back in 1789 we ratified the Constitution.  It put limits on government to protect the rights of Americans.  Now, some 230 years later, we still have to be vigilant.  America's most basic liberties are under attack under the guise of Emergency powers granted under various legislation around our country.

The various governments are talking about suspending the right to peacefully assemble, the taking of personal property, the right to travel freely, the lockdown of entire counties and cities.

Jeff Reynolds does a good job of laying out the most egregious examples from our elected officials.

I get it, the corona virus is dangerous.  However, we ratified a Constitution to limit the reach of government into our lives.  It's one thing entirely for the citizens to decide to stay home, to self-quarantine, to protect their health.  It's another ting entirely for the government at any level to mandate it.

I watched the President's press conference last night.  One of the most egregious examples of government intrusion.  They recommend that we limit all gatherings to ten (10) people or less,   Yet, I counted eight (8) people at the dais, and I heard more than two reporters asking questions.  If it's important to limit gatherings to 10 or less, then why were all those people in the room?

I generally support President Trump, but I expect him (and his medical professionals) to follow the guidelines that they all set.  Anything else is rank hypocrisy.

COVID-19 may pose the greatest medical threat we've seen in my lifetime.  That's what the medical folks are telling us.  But, I'll believe it when they start working from home, limiting their travel, and staying out of rooms with more than 10 people in the room.  Until then, this is just a control pocess, to get us ready for more government in our lives.

2 comments:

Old NFO said...

Yep, once again rules for 'thee' (us), and not for me (them)

Xoph said...

This problem is linked to anti-vaxers which the politicians don't understand, i.e. we don't trust any of you because you lie, distort and spin all the time. Not to mention every time a politician justifies something new for a temporary emergency it never goes away.

And look how many people expect the gubermint to fix it. Want a mask, make your own, there are instructions on the internet. Strangely enough it doesn't occur to the politicians to tell people here are things you can do to help, it only occurs to them to say don't do x, y, z, ...etc.

We get to choose our error of under or over reacting. I have to wonder what intelligence information we have out of China and Iran. We have raised too many people that don't believe in actions have consequence because we have never held them accountable. Ask people to social distance and they hold a party (in part, see paragraph 1, why trust advice from weasels and add 2 parts stupid). So I can't trust my fellow citizens to act responsibly.

As scary as Corona sounds, how about India and China locking down drugs the US needs, but they feel they are going to need them more. Supposedly the drug cartels are running short of the chemicals they need from China to produce their product. These drugs support the ERs for heart attacks, car accidents, etc.

We are past goat rope and accelerating. Hope you have a good supply of adult beverage.