Tyrant Governors Will Sneer at Barr’s Defense of a Little Liberty

The attorney general said the government needs time to adapt during a crisis and it [has] the responsibility to “tailor its approach” after initially issuing potentially “blunt” restrictions. Barr said since the country has had time to flatten the curve, it is now time for the government to adjust the original restrictions. Barr said the stay-at-home orders are “disturbingly close to house arrest,” but added, “I’m not saying it wasn’t justified.”

Here’s the problem. If you say it’s justified to violate individual rights because there’s a crisis, whenever the government declares it a crisis, then you have established an irreversible and unforgivable precedent. The various governors and mayors who have achieved their lifelong ambition to be dictators will sneer at Barr’s remarks. They’ll say, “Well, it’s still a crisis in my book. To hell with what Trump’s attorney general says.” His comments are dead on arrival.

The only way to force the governors of the heavy-handed states to stop is either (1) for residents of the states to vote them out of office (or preferably recall/impeach them); or (2) the federal government to intervene to make them stop. The first won’t happen in most of these states, becasuse the voters are hard-core Democrats who actually WANT a dictatorship, so long as the dictatorship is anti-Trump, anti-Republican and is run by one of their guys. Also, the governors have declared people may not protest or enjoy any rights because of the “health hazards of the virus”. How convenient. It’s doubtful any of these tyrants would accept the results of a recall election, or even allow one to take place. The second will only happen if the federal government either (1) withdraws federal funding for things like schools and roads; or (2) brings in the troops, like Lincoln did against the Southern governors who enforced slavery.

In other words, we’re looking at a civil war as the only possible solution to all this — a tragic option indeed, and one that probably would not work anyway, since so many citizens and voters seem to want a tyranny. It’s sad we have reached this point. I wish it weren’t true. It has been building a long time, and the literal tyranny created by this virus has brought it all home in a way that many of us predicted for many years. The real problem is with the people. I’m talking specifically about the people who don’t know how to think critically and/or manage their thoughts and emotions about this crisis, and who already believe in government intervention for just about any situation (with the possible exceptions of pot and abortion). They got the government they asked for, and they seem prepared to put up with it for a very long time. For them, at least, it’s the social equivalent of suicide-homicide.

As for the governors Barr rightly criticized here: They are not going to listen. And they will not let go of their powers any time soon — if ever.

 

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