This country was founded during a tax revolt. But there's a difference between protesting taxation without representation and protesting . . . . What, exactly? The government's attempt to slow a deadly pandemic? And not a faraway government across the sea, but our own elected ones, plural. From the feds to the statehouses to the mayor's offices. Not for nothing did these people put the brakes on the American economy.
Ever since covid-19 was parachuted into this country, We the People have watched 50 different states try their luck to keep infection rates down and hospitals from being overrun. And the most successfully proven methods include limiting gatherings of people, keeping folks at home with some exceptions, and social distancing.
Governors have taken different approaches to re-opening, with some states going forward full throttle. And others, like Michigan and Wisconsin, taking a more measured approach. (NB: Arkansas is taking our own sweet prudent Southern time, too, which fits us fine.)
Some Americans, not around here, have decided they have waited long enough for a cure to this pandemic. And took to the streets to demand liberation from their chains and bondage. And they brought guns into state buildings just in case they were jumped by a coronavirus and had to defend themselves.
Photos from protests in Michigan look particularly dramatic, with people screaming at police (while not wearing masks). For the first time, we heard the term "safetyism" the other day, in a disparaging way. As if safety were an ideology that needed to be debated, even opposed. And all those police were on the wrong side of the safetyism divide.
What happened to law and order? What happened to Blue Lives Matter? When did guns replace snarky signs at protests?
Should anyone be curious about what true theft of liberty looks like, just hop online and search for videos of ChiComs literally welding the doors of residences shut in Wuhan to prevent the inhabitants from going outside. And those folks didn't have access to Netflix or a free Internet to occupy themselves. But at least folks on mainland China can read books--the ones that are allowed.
Being denied a haircut for a month isn't a threat to liberty. It's a public safety guideline, and a temporary one at that.
Editorial on 05/18/2020