Regardless of what countless politicians and media outlets are saying these days, the government was never intended to be responsible for your personal health. The Constitution created the framework for a limited form of government in a constitutional republic. This limited government required a high level of personal responsibility from its citizens, as the government handled “big picture” issues and let the citizens handle the rest. Freedom is dangerous, and the early citizens of the United States took it upon themselves to ensure their own safety. They didn’t beg the government to protect them from disease, or crop failures, or their neighbors. They were rugged individualists who were willing and able to protect themselves as they enjoyed the liberties of a free republic.
Fast forward to 2020, and many US citizens are clamoring for the government to protect them from a new virus, practically begging the government to take more and more of their liberties so that these citizens can feel safe from an unseen threat. We have been told to stay at home, mask up, close our businesses, stop all “non-essential” activities, and trust that our government will keep us safe. Governors, mayors, state and local legislatures have all acted well outside their constitutional authorities in issuing orders, statutes, and ordinances requiring citizens to wear masks, socially distance, and shutter their private businesses.
And for the most part, the citizens have fully accepted these government overreaches. The fear instilled by the media, the government, celebrities, and billionaires provided all the motivation and persuasion needed to strip more and more freedom from the people during this time of need, this “global pandemic.”
Healthy people are being treated as if they are sick, quarantined in their homes, allowed to shop only at large box stores or other state-approved businesses, while small businesses remain closed under threat of criminal and civil punishment.
I am neither pro-mask nor anti-mask. If you choose to wear one, that is your right to do so. But I have the right NOT to wear a mask–I have the right to assert autonomy over my own body and my health to say, “No, thank you. I am not sick and do not choose to live as if I am.”
Dangerous precedents are being set. Government continues to expand its control. Almost every aspect of day-to-day life is affected by government intrusion. I’ll paraphrase Jack Carr, and expand on his sentiment: the consolidation and expansion of government power at all levels must be resisted by all means necessary. Once government gains power, the people will not reclaim that power without great struggle, effort, and strife.
Freedom is dangerous. Liberty is precious. Take responsibility for your own health and safety and resist government overreach.