Is it true that we had no choice?
Five years ago...from my journal May 2, 2020
Is it true that we “had no choice” but to lock down, quarantine healthy people, close businesses, deny people access to elective surgeries and procedures, instill fear into the populace, and in general act as if the Constitution is only as important (and perhaps not even as important) as toilet paper?
Dr. Fauci is certainly beating the drum that this is so, convincing many well-intended people that the sacrifices they are making are absolutely necessary to avoid the death of millions.
Here is the premise communicated to the masses: “Had we not done (and continue to do) what we are doing (the suspension of our lives), then death would surely have run rampant because this virus is so viral and vicious and contagious. We must contain it, and once we have contained it, we must be willing to contain it again when it reappears in the Fall, as it surely will. We simply have no choice if we care about human life.”
I have thoughts about… the nature of the virus, the value of freedom in securing life, and the reality that there really is nothing new under the sun…
Thought number one: the nature of the virus…
We are learning a great deal about this novel virus. It is deadly almost exclusively to those with underlying health issue. Are there young people without comorbidities who have died? Yes. But we have been told to “follow the science.” Science is built on data and numbers, not anecdotal examples.
The annual flu takes the lives of young and healthy people at a much higher rate than this novel virus does. Anecdotal examples are powerful because they are emotional. Truly, they do pull at the heartstrings of humanity. But the sadness they invoke is not science.
We are admonished to consider the science, so let’s stick to that. The science demonstrates with data that over 95% of those who pass away with COVID-19 are those with co-morbidities. The science demonstrates that this virus has been more widespread than previously believed. This is called the “infection rate.” The higher the infection rate, the lower the case mortality rate. We were told when this began to expect – based on models – a high mortality rate of at least 4% and perhaps higher. We now know, given the fact that actual data has been collected, that the mortality rate is no more than 0.5% and perhaps even lower. This puts us in the territory of the flu data.
Some will say, “Because this virus is so contagious, we must shelter at home in order to contain it and prevent its transmission to the elderly and the immunocompromised.” Well, if it’s that contagious then it’s going to spread no matter what we do. What we are doing is not going to eliminate this virus. It is here, and we must continue to live. We can shelter in place and destroy our economy and the lives of the healthy for the purpose of “slowing the spread.” But that’s all we are doing, slowing it. It will spread.
The best way to protect the vulnerable is to build a wall of herd immunity, to create within the population an army of antibodies that quenches the virus upon invasion. Herd immunity is best developed when healthy people interact with one another. This means that social distancing – in addition to many other flaws – is most flawed in the way it actually endangers people over time. Not only does it isolate people – increasing their levels of anxiety – it also creates the opposite of what we are told. Instead of improving health, it damages health. It weakens the immune system. It depresses the mind. The vulnerable need us to fight this virus by building a protective wall of community immunity best developed by social interactions of the young and strong.
The models upon which the executive decisions were made to suspend the Constitutional rights of people to assemble (1st amendment), pursue their livelihoods (5th amendment), and be free from intrusive government surveillance (4th amendment) were wrong. Even the model-makers and those who employed them agree. Yet even as they agree that the models were flawed, they tighten the noose of government intervention and control – demanding the healthy wear masks in public, determining that schools remain closed and ultimately “reimagined” if allowed to open in the Fall, and forcing many family-run businesses to remain shuttered.
The models accomplished one thing: they inflamed the fear of the masses of people to the point that they gave up the lives they had, perhaps forever, with the understanding that their sacrifice would save lives. What has been forced upon us will not save lives. It may change the trajectory and time frame of the viral spread, and it may change the causes over which lives are lost, but it will not save lives.
The lives of the healthy matter, too.
It seems we have forgotten that.
Life involves risk. Right now, we are being told that healthy people cannot enter the public square without wearing a mask. Healthy people are becoming convinced that they pose a risk. If people become convinced that they cannot live their lives because doing so may risk the health and safety of another, we will never leave our homes again. Such is not a reasonable expectation, and I propose is actually a dangerous one.
Thought number two: the value of freedom in securing life…
Free people are healthier people.
Free people understand risk, and they decide for themselves how to manage the risks that life will always pose.
It is true that free people are not always wise. But does this mean that government intervention is required? If you answer “yes” to that, please consider the fact that Governor Cuomo – the one proclaiming himself to be the protector of the vulnerable – has demanded that nursing homes (where the most vulnerable live) admit positive COVID-19 patients. The government is not the answer to keeping the vulnerable safe. Ask the families at those nursing homes. Ask those babies that were aborted. Ask the disabled whom Nazi Germany ripped from their homes and “euthanized” after performing horrific experiments upon them. Ask the victims of the Ukrainian Holodomor who starved to death under the centralized government of their time. Ask the people of Wuhan who are living now under a totalitarian state… a government now being mimicked in NY.
The state, if given authoritarian power under the disguise of “emergency actions”, will not long care about the health and safety of the people. History has clearly shown us that. Many a despot has grown in the soil of the propaganda of “safety.”
It has been here in our free society that innovation, sophisticated medical technology, and effective procedures have bloomed and have blessed the entire world. It has been here in our free society that life expectancy has – until recently – continued to rise. It is here – in freedom – that human ingenuity has been nourished. The answer to the question, “How do we best pursue health and safety” is “in freedom.” Allowing people to be personally responsible for their health and safety and cultivating the fruits of freedom leads to the greatest of human flourishing. History has clearly shown us that.
Ideas have consequences. Policies have consequences. Executive orders have consequences. Follow these to their logical conclusions: Lockdowns lead to mass unemployment which leads to poverty. Poverty is correlated with increased disease. Disruptions in the food supply as farmers dump milk, slaughter animals, allow fruits and vegetables to rot on the vine. Hunger is coming. No one is denying that drug overdoses, suicides, and incidents of domestic violence are on the rise. And what of the children kept indoors, out of school, isolated from one another? What will be the consequences on their minds, bodies, and spirits?
Do the lives of these people matter?
What about those who are denied elective surgeries. Pacemakers that fail and hearts that stop. Knees and hips that aren’t replaced. Gall bladders that aren’t removed. Chemotherapy and radiation that are not administered. The reluctance of people to go to the ER when they have chest pains or signs of a stroke. They fear being separated from their family. They fear a virus that is less deadly to them than the immediate medical distress they are in.
Do the lives of these people matter?
Restaurant owners who will soon give up and never again open their business.
Do their lives matter?
Those employed in the energy sector who are laid off from a well-paying job that supports their family.
Do the lives of these people matter?
Airline pilots and mechanics.
Do their lives matter?
Students, children forced now to sit in front of a screen for hours. And hours. And hours. No longer practicing the social skills needed to function in the real world and no longer experiencing the social memories and rites of passage of teenagers.
Do their lives matter?
Thought number three: the reality that there really is nothing new under the sun…
Folks, this is an old story that we are living through. The powerful are seizing power by denying liberty in the name of safety, assuring us that they are doing so for our own good. The powerful appear knowledgeable and compassionate to those who are afraid. The fearful are willing to exchange freedom for a perceived promise of safety. Those of us who question the policies and the policy-makers are marginalized.
For a while we the dissenters and thinkers will be ignored by those with power and the media army they control and direct. But then the ignoring will morph into silencing. Those who do not have power – those of the masses that we live amongst and love because they are our families and our communities – will start to mistrust us. They will start to believe we are dangerous because they have been told we are. Soon, they will start to report us. Then the powerful will no longer ignore us. They will remove us - or at least talk about it. We, after all, are a threat. The removal may at first be benign, but over time the masses themselves will demand – in a frenzy of fear and adrenaline – that we be cut off. This is the tyranny of the French Revolution being lived out on today’s stage. There is nothing new under the sun.
Nothing in my life has been as transformative as this.
When we consider our life events, those moments that shape us, those instances in time that forever alter the path we are on, it is this moment here and now that I see clearly as the most unnecessary and yet most life altering. It is more transformative than the day I married. It is more transformative than the day I buried a child (a child who died from a contagious virus). It is terrifying to consider the power the state and experts are accumulating. It is more terrifying still to consider the purposeful impotence of the populace.
When Dr. Fauci states as fact that we, “Had no choice,” I ask you to question the scope and irrationality of this sweeping and consequential statement.
We did have a choice.
And we had leaders that failed to lead and tyrants that took the reins willingly and are continuing to hold on tightly.
Look today at your children. Your grandchildren. The generation coming behind. And mourn, for the legacy we are leaving them is not the heritage we inherited. And then once you are done mourning, rise up and fight for them. Teach them truth. Speak to them of the Creator Redeemer God and His authority in their lives, His presence in history, His power then and now, and His ultimate victory over the schemes of Satan and those who chose the path of darkness. True and righteous justice is coming, not man’s kind of justice, but God’s. Teach this to your children. Prepare them for difficult days and at the same time point them toward the sovereignty of the Omnipotent Creator Redeemer God.
We have a choice. It is to know God and the power of His resurrection and to be willing to share in His sufferings and walk in His way. It is to remember that we who know the King of kings and Lord of lords are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.
Push back.
Press on.
Stay free.