How Freedom Dies #WeStillWearMasksThough #ButNotBecauseYouMandatedIt

Yesterday, Dane County issued a new order that prohibits gatherings in people’s homes- private property, of any size, regardless of precautions taken. Meanwhile, NFL teams, college football teams, the UW Madison, childcare, gyms, restaurants, businesses… all able to continue operating.Twenty miles from my house, the UW has contracted more positive Covid cases than any other single entity in the state- and yet they are still operational, hosting and playing football games on national television, and no one is shutting that down. There is no social distancing on the field, the players are not wearing masks, but Dane County residents would not be allowed to invite their parents, who are quarantining, over to their own private property without facing a $2,000 fine. 

I KNOW this virus is real. My sister is a front line nurse, who is putting her family and own health at risk, working 12 hour shifts, facing uncertainties every day, just to do her job. She sees first hand the devastation that this virus can cause. My dad is high risk, I have not seen him since February. My daughter is high risk, she is hardly allowed to leave our house, and we certainly have not had any parties. But- are we ready to trade in our personal freedom for government control? That is the ultimate question that I continue to ask myself. 

Our government is a republic, long modeled after the Roman republic of ancient times before Rome traded in their freedom for an autocracy. Americans fought and sacrificed thousands of lives in order to gain this individual freedom- the famous tenets that our country was founded on, the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However, as we all know from history- Rome fell, trading in their once admirable freedoms for a government system that ultimately destroyed the seemingly impenetrable republic. 

In George Orwell’s much applauded book, 1984, he wrote what he believed was an eventuality: that America would hand over it’s freedom for totalitarianism. His pessimism was based on two key factors: The rise of collectivism combined with hedonism.

Freedom can be messy. People can’t always be trusted to do what you think is best. The answer to where our country is headed in the next 50 years greatly depends on how we answer this question of “So What Then?”

Isn’t it reasonable for the government to step in and protect people from themselves? Isn’t it reasonable to do what is best for the whole of society, vs protecting the “rights” of one selfish individual that just will not wear his mask? I grapple with this question myself. However, that is the very definition of collectivism, and is the core set of beliefs that guide communism, socialism and fascism. 

No republic is eternal, America is no exception to this. When the citizens of America begin to trade our individual freedom for the common good, we begin to trade freedom for government control. When we look around society and it seems chaotic, and our fellow citizens seem untrustworthy, “responsible” citizens begin calling for more government authority. We desire to trade in the chaos for the stability offered by a responsive, more powerful, government, able to save us from ourselves.

Fear is the currency that freedom is traded in for. Again, do not misunderstand me: I Do not believe that the fear is irrational. In fact, Frankfort, in his book the Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man, noted that  between 1800 and 1600 BC a fear psychosis spread through Ancient Egypt, precipitated by the invasion of foreign rebels hungry for power and conquest. Initially this fear psychosis was justified by a real threat, yet even when these foreigners were successfully driven far away from Egypt, the ruling powers sought to artificially maintain fear among the population – realizing that a fearful population is easier to control than a fearless one. As my dad often quoted to me when I complained about social studies, “Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it.” 

This holiday season, I urge you to be smart. Follow CDC GUIDELINES. Wear a mask when you have to be out in public. Stay home when you can. Know the risks to your family and act accordingly. But be slow to applaud the government’s orders to make decisions for our best interests.

“So this is how liberty dies… to thunderous applause”