Some states have also dictated how many people can go to church despite precautions being taken. And, yes, it is totally proper to give advice, to say lives could be at stake from COVID-19 if large numbers were gathering in close proximity, and, to go further, to say this isn't just about you but about the harm you can do to others through transmission. But here's the thing. If government travels an autocratic, unprecedented route with the pandemic, what's going to happen to liberty generally and with other matters, such as climate change?
Keep in mind that President-elect
Of course, Biden and others, while giving voice to extreme worries, tell us that we will have a revived economy. That is nonsense,
especially if people don't get it that it would at least take nuclear energy to replace fossil fuels without tragic mishap.
Actually, there is nothing
The truth is that some supposed remedies could be a bigger threat than climate change, and look at what we are doing in the
pandemic. The total shutdowns of industry can cost millions of jobs, destroy businesses in vast numbers and, yes, kill people.
A crunched economy will mean less education, less health care, more poverty, more misery. And what about
At any rate, at least some experts argue, 99% of people who contract the virus are in no danger of death, and those who are, the elderly and those with underlying conditions, can be addressed as a special class needing special help and protection as others rebuild our economy. Schools are safe if opened correctly, and the information on how to do it is readily available.
Keeping children out of schools can be a disaster for them, a rip in their education that may never be totally repaired. Digital instruction is simply not available for everyone and nowhere close to the efficacy of person-to-person instruction.
Scientists debate some of this, but we have been a free society, although yes, in emergencies we expect the government to
intervene more than usual. It does not follow that anything goes or that overreach will be successful. An American instinct
is for people to decide certain matters for themselves. It is actually more than an instinct, but a conviction that we have
our rights. I do not hereby offer my respect to people who are careless, but neither do I believe
(COMMENT, BELOW)
Jay Ambrose
(TNS)
Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers and the editor of dailies in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, is a columnist living in Colorado.