“They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin
Why are we so willing to let the federal and state governments tell us that we must shelter in place? Or, if we go outside it can be only to the few “essential businesses” that they have approved? Why can we not assemble freely, worship at our churches, or get a haircut, even if we take proper precautions? Was there a law passed that was approved by any legislature or a case tried in a court. No. The governors of the states under executive emergency powers have decreed what we can or cannot do. How long do these powers last? One month, two months, 6 months or when they decide to let us have our freedom back? Why haven’t the legislatures reconvened to reaffirm the powers that the governors have assumed? Where are the court cases, the injunctions, the Supreme Court? Now that the government has established a precedent for declaring a nationwide shutdown, what future event will trigger the sames reaction, e.g., climate change? The answer is that we have traded our liberty for safety. There has not been a groundswell of general opposition and /or defiance to these decrees, therefore they have assumed that they have the consent of the governed. Do they?
If the generations before us were as afraid as we are, then they would have reacted to the following worldwide pandemics caused by a virus or bacteria by hiding in their houses or caves. But they didn’t.
Asiatic Flu Pandemic 1889-1890 1 million deaths
Sixth Cholera Pandemic 1910-1911 800,000 deaths
Spanish Flu 1918 20-50 million deaths
Hong Kong Flu 1968 1 million deaths
HIV/AIDS 2005-2012 36 million deaths
Swine Flu 2009 284,000 deaths
Seasonal Flu Every Year 290,000-650,000 deaths
Covid-19 Virus 2020 300,000 deaths as on 5/14/2020
Why is the reaction to this pandemic different than all those in the past? Is it the media that is sensationalizing the tragedy of the worldwide death rate? Has the decline in religious belief given rise to people’s fear of death? Has the western world gone soft from too much good living and an ever increasing lifespan? Why don’t we have the courage to stand up to governmental authorities who have overstepped their Constitutional mandates or to people who try to shame us for being outside? Why has fear so gripped us that we are willing to accept restrictions on our liberty? Why are the most repeated phrases in the Bible: “Fear Not”, “Do not be afraid”, and “Do not Fear”? I don’t have all the answers but the following quote identifies the problem.
“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
Excerpt from the first inaugural address of Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in the depth of the Depression.
