Contact tracing, remember that phrase. It is the solution to the current quarantine “shelter in place” orders. It is how we should have dealt with this “pandemic” from the beginning. We are told we have to stay home to protect each other, and that justifies the government imposing all sorts of crazy rules about who is “essential,” who gets paid to stay at home, and who has to shut down and starve while this “crisis” continues.
The current government imposed orders are the result of what I call lazy authoritarianism and arrogance. “Arrogance,” because the so-called experts claim they have the only solutions, and we should go along because they are smarter than the rest of us. “Lazy Authoritarianism” because other solutions would require the government to work harder to balance the public health with our personal and economic freedom, and who cares about our personal and economic freedom? Certainly not the “public health bureaucrats.” Their mantra: “Just do what you’re told and quit complaining.”
That is where contact tracing comes in. That is how we deal with every other public health menace. We don’t ban sex because a few people have syphilis. Heck we don’t even demand everyone wear “masks.” We don’t ban human contact because a few people have tuberculosis, measles, chicken pox or even Ebola, or any other number of communicable diseases. When public health officials find out about them, those with the disease are quarantined, and they search for people who have had contact with the infected. That is how you balance public health with freedom. The primary concern is the freedom of those who are not infected.
We are told we can’t do “contact tracing” because the COVID-19 virus is asymptomatic for two weeks while it is communicable, so people don’t know they have it, and can transmit the disease during this time. That, however, is true of almost all communicable diseases. Most infected people are unaware that they are infected when they are at maximum risk of transmitting the disease.
The same with the so-called lack of a vaccine. Same issues and solutions. If freedom was the primary concern of the California government, the contact tracing solution, no matter how difficult, would be their response. In his press conference yesterday, Governor Newsom said “We recognize the consequences of the stay-at-home orders have a profound impact on the economy, your personal household budget, your personal prospects around your future.” He may “recognize” these things, but he doesn’t care at all. He doesn’t have to care, he gets to order you around, and make his life easier, then claim his orders are making you “safe.” Starve? It doesn’t matter, “do what I say or I’ll have you arrested.” That is the “lazy authoritarianism” I talked about. Arrogant public health bureaucrats don’t care about the consequences of their policies, they only care that they don’t have to work very hard (or right now, they get a paid vacation). They tell the lazy authoritarian, in this case, Governor Newsom, “just shut them up in their homes and tell them it’s good for them.” The propaganda machine then kicks into place, with the mainstream media telling us there is nothing else we can do, and then saying anyone who says differently just wants people to die.
If COVID-19 were the only case of lazy authoritarianism, I would probably say the current situation is a mistake, but we have seen this before. Mandatory vaccination is another example. The state mandates every child be vaccinated to go to school. That doesn’t have to be. We could just have parents give the schools the vaccination records, then if one of the communicable diseases shows up at the school, then remove all children without a vaccine to protect them (obviously those with a vaccine don’t need the protection). I agree that vaccinations are a good thing, but I am not so arrogant to think my opinion is the only valid one, and I care about freedom. This solution is one that balances freedom with public health.
Same with guns. It is true that guns are dangerous in the hands of some people, and that finding those people is hard. That does not justify taking away everyone’s guns. A proper regard for freedom (and, of course, the Constitution) demands we find a balance. Gun banners don’t care about balance, because they, like Governor Newsom, are lazy authoritarians.
Even climate change regulation can be tossed into this lazy authoritarian paradigm. Demanding whole industries comply with very burdensome regulations makes it easy on the bureaucrats and tough on business. Arrogant bureaucrats don’t have to work hard to figure out what actually works to reduce the impact human activity has on the climate, they can just come up with the “reduce CO2 emissions” regulations and business and the economy be damned.
If personal and economic freedom were the principal concern of our Governor and his bureaucrats, we would be implementing contact tracing. If freedom was the primary concern, mandated vaccines would not be the standard and gun bans would be off the table. We however live in a state of arrogant bureaucrats and lazy authoritarians. They are smarter than us, and they know it. They can force us to do what they want us to do, and we aren’t supposed to complain. If we do complain, they just say we just want people to die. We keep voting for these authoritarians, and we don’t complain. I guess we do get the government we deserve.