Government Goes Too Far
PJ Media,
by
John Stossel
Original Article
Posted By: ladydawgfan,
4/23/2020 3:18:54 AM
I'm "social distancing." I stay away from people.
I do it voluntarily.
There's a big difference between voluntary -- and force.
Government is force. The media want more of that.
"Ten states have no stay-at-home orders!" complains Don Lemon On CNN. "Some governors are still refusing to take action!"
Fox News' host Steve Hilton agreed. "Shut things down! Everywhere. That includes Utah, Wyoming..."
But wait a second. People in Utah and Wyoming already socially distanced just by living there. Why must Utah and Wyoming have the same stay-at-home rules as New York?
I find it creepy how eager some people are for authorities to boss us around.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Roark 4/23/2020 4:20:00 AM (No. 388395)
The lawsuits. The lawsuits will be coming fast and frequent until the courts are choked. It will be interesting to find out who has "standing" and who doesn't. Equally interesting will be how the Obama/Clinton appointees rule as opposed to the Trump appointed (does Bush count after Roberts?). The judgements and appeals will take years to work out with a few landing in the Supreme Court. Hardly justice for ALL of US having our liberties trampled and whittled away. A few states may even come up with new laws (more laws...). This virus has certainly pulled back the curtains on the petty tyrants: governors, mayors and more than a few law officers, to notables in Congress, all angling for political posture. None of this is going unnoticed.
The question is this: Are we a country of free people or not? And what are we going to do about it?
57 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Rinktum 4/23/2020 6:17:28 AM (No. 388416)
I strongly support law enforcement but watching videos of policemen arresting a kid on a paddle board, a mom at a park, and a pastor in his church parking lot is very disturbing to me. It makes me wonder how prudent it was to give these governors and mayors power to implement draconian rules which strangles our freedom. Being at risk, I rarely go out but when I do, it is frightening to see the fear and uncertainty on the faces of my fellow Americans. When people dare to speak a word to you they indicate that they are fed up with the rules and want this to end. Now I understand the plea give me liberty or give me death. Government oppression is not something we have ever really experienced in this country and let me tell you, Americans do not like it and will not tolerate it much longer.
88 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 4/23/2020 6:35:45 AM (No. 388433)
Proverbs 6:6-11
Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest,
How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep--
So shall your poverty come on you
like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.
It is time that we Americans start taking a serious look at what we do. Let's get busy taking care of ourselves by exercising and eating right, put cleaning and sanitation back into our schedules, and look to energetic ways rather than sluggish ways.
Ecclesiastes states that wisdom comes from God only. Open your Bible and start reading. The Old Testament and New Testament - both of them to get the broader picture.
Clearly, there is one question here for you after reading the Bible verse from above. Would you rather be an ant or a sluggard. Your choice. Your life. I know it is a free country but with it comes responsibility from us as individuals not laziness. I know what AOC or these authoritarian state governors prefer. . .
41 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
privateer 4/23/2020 7:07:48 AM (No. 388456)
Since it came from red China, we should call it the 'Red Plague'. And those eager SA types posing as LEOs---arresting innocent people trying to live their lives--- can be the 'Red Guard'.
24 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
felixcat 4/23/2020 7:41:48 AM (No. 388493)
Enough is enough! So now Dr. Fauci is whining about Georgia starting to re-open as this virus will be with us for sometime. So shut the entire country down while you go about your daily routine (visits to the White House, etc), collect your almost $400,000 a year government salary.
Trump needs to start telling his federal agencies to start allowing workers back into their spaces, especially those work spaces still allow for "social distance" if only to please the mad hatters Drs. Fauci and Birx. And I want to know if all the intel agencies' employees are working on home. Hmm. Do they all have Top Secret and above secured VPNs to connect to to their agency's servers? I doubt it.
Trump needs to get out ahead on this and STOP with all these stimulus packages. It's welfare for people and companies that didn't need it six weeks ago.
31 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
MickTurn 4/23/2020 7:47:30 AM (No. 388499)
This will solve itself...as FREE states with Republican leadership show how to do this right, the citizens of the BLUE States will quickly recognize how the Communists that rule them are WRONG ... and Dictators.
It won't be pretty when those citizens DEMAND freedom. At that point Pres. Trump can chime in and start, in his 'polite' way, Citizens, if you want to be FREE, you need to tell your 'leaders' in a massive way to get OUT of your way and shut up!
31 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
BaldGuy 4/23/2020 7:54:39 AM (No. 388512)
#1...one of the only things that give me hope is the number of judges the Trumpster has appointed (with turtles help) to eventually turn this big ship around....may take awhile but it will happen.
32 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Urgent Fury 4/23/2020 8:16:10 AM (No. 388541)
These are perfect campaign ads for anyone wishing to run against the Nazi wannabe types at whatever level.
16 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
bpl40 4/23/2020 8:17:25 AM (No. 388542)
Facts are stubborn things. One by one, Wisconsin, Montana, Utah, Georgia make it obvious that there is no uptick in cases the obvious will become the undeniable shutting down the Lemons and the Faucis. This is a gross overreach
28 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
wakeupcall 4/23/2020 8:25:02 AM (No. 388550)
Marxist Communist democrats trying to rule like dictators is because they need this practice exercise to find out which of their leadership actual have the ability to be a dictator. Those who don't come up to the elite leadership of deep state One World Government desired standards will be replaced before they take total control of America's government.
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/23/2020 8:37:05 AM (No. 388563)
The main point for these Hitler wannabes to remember is that America was founded on the heels of a battle for freedom. We are more than capable of fighting and winning another one and making every state free. Is that what the dim dictators want?
13 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 4/23/2020 8:42:33 AM (No. 388573)
"I find it creepy how eager some people are for authorities to boss us around"
Why are you surprised John? The majority of people are uncertain and timid. They want someone to tell them what to do. They are troubled when they have to deal with responsibility. They want to play it safe. A pioneering, entrepreneurial, independent spirit is unusual. Do you think that America was birthed by a overwhelming majority of freedom demanding people? Nope, it was engineered by a small group of smart and determined people who pushed it out and sold it across the land, convincing people through letters and conversations. The people were more independent then so the the ideas they espoused were well received but most people were far removed from the national concerns.
"lockdowns are not sustainable" This has been the underlying truth of our shutdown. We were trying to survive a "peak" that would overwhelm our medical system. Beyond that, a shutdown does more damage than good. Dem socialists, always seeking power and control, are trying to take advantage as usual. They win short term because they control the enforcement power of the state but eventually the courts will overrule them. In the meantime, people will defy them and we will remember what they did.
We don't need the court's approval or careful interpretation of law to vote them out of office. We can be tyrants too and just expel them.
18 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Laotzu 4/23/2020 8:43:25 AM (No. 388574)
This is a vivid example of how detached mainstream media is from reporting and truth.
I live in Utah. Public and private schools closed a month ago and will not open again until the fall. Same for colleges, including the University of Utah and it's dental and medical schools. Can't get food other than grocery and drivethrough. Can't get a haircut. Can't go to the a lake 2 miles from my house. All non-essential business have been shut down since mid-March. My neighbors wander the streets with their dogs like zombies. My boy got chased from an outdoor, gravel pit shooting range last week by the Sheriff.
But both a CNN reporter and Fox reporter think Utah is the new Vegas, because they saw it in a DNC Facebook meme. God help us that so many people are this stupid.
29 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 4/23/2020 8:55:43 AM (No. 388591)
Throughout this coronavirus outbreak, we have witnessed leftist leadership in action and the totalitarian tactics applied by the left with one objective. Political control. The societal effects of the outbreak on a civil society such as ours, is undeniable. The outbreak is a dream come true for the dims, the msm, the deep state, and the globalists as it affords them short-term opportunity to apply yet more societal controls for the benefit of achieving more power over us while using the outbreak as cover. But, look at it this way. Everyone can see for themselves the leftist dogma at work and the assault of this evil on our values.
However, the dims have once again shot themselves in the foot. This time, by treating the very people who put them into power like laboratory animals. Anger toward unnecessary oppression is boiling over now. People in the blue states will have very long memories this time and will remember their leadership comes retribution time.
17 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Kafka2 4/23/2020 9:04:29 AM (No. 388597)
It is an observable fact that The Democrats do what they accuse the Republicans of doing. They have accused President of being a Fascist, a dictator, acting like a king, and being power hungry. That describes the actions in most states where the Democrats are in control. They range from the petty to the draconian. But, they are all excessive and destructive to some degree. The Democrats have become the party of totalitarianism.
29 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Kafka2 4/23/2020 9:18:20 AM (No. 388617)
The Democrats/Progressives have revealed their true nature during this crises and it is ugly! Their elitist contempt for most of us is only exceeded by their desire for the dictatorial control of a police state.
23 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
weejun 4/23/2020 9:44:30 AM (No. 388651)
One benefit of this Coronavirus mess is the glimpse it has given us into how totalitarianism rises. From Stalin to Hitler to Mao, the model has been to seize upon a crisis and then offer to “save” the people from it if they will only give up a little of their freedoms. Once started down this path, the road to total population control is inevitable. Don’t think for a minute that these power-hungry pols who have relished the position of being able to tell their citizens what they can and cannot do won’t try and continue their controls as this thing winds down. The sad thing is we Americans have allowed
14 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
bigfatslob 4/23/2020 9:46:34 AM (No. 388654)
I live in the bluest of blue states which will probably cast electoral votes for Joe Biden and his VP pick. Our governess will follow Pelosi's instruction and open our state when Cuomo decides on New York. State Police shut down a car wash that was operating in another county than ours. We are seeing the full monte with socialism the only thing that stops full grown riots in the street are no food shortage, yet.
Saving every person from the virus with no more outbreaks but ruin a country that we can't return to is suicide and just plain wrong. Americans were not made to live under the thumb of tiny dictators and the left who enjoy this just to destroy our President who is doing a great job.
18 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
weejun 4/23/2020 9:47:01 AM (No. 388655)
a hope for safety from a disease to trump some fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. (Sorry, hit the post button accidentally).
6 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
MDConservative 4/23/2020 9:50:36 AM (No. 388659)
Not long ago many here were advocating the appropriation of private property by the President, using force as necessary, through the Defense Production Act for the purpose of manufacturing respirators.
Not long ago many here were squawking about usurpation of "states rights", where locals made decisions, not the Federal government. Like it or not, that's what these governors are doing. But now the President should be.
Today, there is squawking about the Dem/Lib governors and their deciding to keep their economies crippled and people at home. No mention of such craziness as Texas quarantining travelers arriving from Louisiana, or Florida having border checks. Texas' governor has gone so far as to begin forming a committee to plan the state's return to normalcy. Wooo! And to squawk about the Dems squeezing trillions out of an empty Treasury...seems the Republicans passed these same "welfare" bills and a Republican President signed the Government Cheese Acts of 2020 into law.
The American people have failed this test from the beginning. They have shown that hysteria is easy to induce; obedience is not an issue. No need to stop now. Hey, the experts say we'll be doing this for at least another two years!
7 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
stablemoney 4/23/2020 10:01:56 AM (No. 388672)
The rationale for doing most of these things has turned out to be wrong. The stay at home orders were to keep the hospitals from being overrun. The opposite happened. No one got sick, and the hospitals closed, and furloughed their employees. The rationale have proven to be wrong, why wasn't the stay at home orders lifted? We do need more cleanliness like wiping down commonly used door knobs and shopping cart handles, which is where most virus transmissions occur. These common sense things are rarely mentioned, and most businesses and stores are not doing it. We have public officials ruling like dictators, none of whom have any common sense, a fact everyone knows. The doctors that stand beside them don't have any either. These are the same type doctors that have advised for centuries leaving home to go somewhere else to cure illnesses. Sure sick, so travel to Arizona, or if in Britain, go to Italy. Doctors can help some, but you really must decide and control what you allow them to do to you, or you will be sicker, and poorer. Every Nazi leader had a doctor, and all of them became drug addicts. You know how to take care of yourself, and do not need a bureaucrat or a doctor to do that.
13 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
coldborezero 4/23/2020 10:04:49 AM (No. 388674)
Enough with comparing these would-be tyrants with Adolph Hitler. Hitler was small potatoes compared with the true, genuine, brutal, merciless tyrant know as Joseph Stalin. Call these petty, repugnant, insignificant fly-speck politicians what they truly are: Little Stalins!
14 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Arby 4/23/2020 10:08:54 AM (No. 388681)
Let us hope that the voters will remember this moment. Often when people are under duress they reveal their true selves. The democrats in power want to rule; they want to control; they want to force you and bend you to their will. Why? Because they are little people who could never attain prominence in the world beyond politics. This is the way that they make themselves look like big people. Ultimately, they are jailers and they want to imprison you and make you pawns within their dream games. Let us hope that the voters choose the party of liberty, not the party of constraint and tyranny.
11 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
Ida Lou Pino 4/23/2020 10:09:49 AM (No. 388684)
Unfortunately - - the impulse toward authoritarianism infects this very forum of supposedly freedom-loving individuals.
Just consider how strong the support here is for the utterly authoritarian, anti-freedom "War On Drugs" - - now in its 50th year of colossal failure and trampling on the Constitution.
How can anyone who supports the "War On Drugs" - - be critical of an authoritarian streak in anyone else?
5 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
dst4life 4/23/2020 10:57:02 AM (No. 388747)
Everybody here, take note of what got vomited from Cuomo's big mouth. He has said those who are out of work should go work for "essential" business. My, my!! How it takes a crisis for someone's true colors to show!! Indeed, he thinks like a socialist/communist dictator. Forget what you love to do. Forget where your heart is. Do what the state wants and needs you to do. Become a cog in the wheel of a production machine. If God called you to be an artist, forget about it. Instead, be a maker of masks. Cuomo is a stark utilitarian who is all about pragmatism, what works. Stay in New York, Cuomo, you jerk!!!
13 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
TCloud 4/23/2020 11:03:23 AM (No. 388759)
God and Guns for me and mine. Born Free! Die Free!
11 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 4/23/2020 11:09:04 AM (No. 388767)
Nearly 7500 people die daily in this country (the number I saw is actually 7452). That is over 50000 a week. That is over 200000 in a month. Over 2.5 million in a year. Now all of a sudden our government and media are concerned about our mortality? Got bad news, and good news for you. The bad news? You are going to die. The good news? Probably not today. Our government cannot stop it, and needs to get over it. We need to get over the deaths. People die.
Btw, its not just Democrats. Here in Republican run Florida we have a lockdown and social distancing is being enforced. The President is on board with this. Democrats are worse, but Republicans aren't much better. At least some Republicans are grounded in reality, and are trying to reopen things. Trump is lucky that the democrats do not present any viable options.
Said it before. Neither the lockdown or social distancing are sustainable. More than 4 million people filed for unemployment last week on top of all the others that are already unemployed. Both the federal government and all the state governments have taken huge hits economically over this. How much revenue have the governments lost? They are already in debt, and are making things much worse.
There is only one solution: REOPEN THE COUNTRY.
10 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
BarryNo 4/23/2020 11:16:38 AM (No. 388774)
You are either part of the problem, or part of the solution. Police swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. They better consider whether their superiors are giving them legal orders.
If not, then resign, or rebel.
Think very carefully, whether you are an officer of justice and law under the Constitution, or a thug working for a tyrant.
10 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
dst4life 4/23/2020 11:47:56 AM (No. 388820)
#28, unfortunately, many law enforcement officers know very little about the Constitution. They parrot unlawful orders without asking questions. They are not thinking critically, as they have NOT been taught in our leftist public school systems.
6 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
planetgeo 4/23/2020 12:43:22 PM (No. 388920)
Who here doubts that the Democrats are openly at war with us and our government? That their comical #resistance has turned into real sabotage? Anybody?
At first this was about "flattening the curve". Well the curve is now so flat that the hospitals are all laying off staff and going bankrupt. And the lockdowns went from "social distancing" to stay out of the entire Pacific Ocean or else! And if we reopen too soon, it will be "murder."
In that regard, has anybody been to Costco or Walmart lately? See any murders there...I mean other than for getting that last roll of toilet paper or the last rotisserie chicken? How come Costco can operate daily (ditto, Safeway, Albertson's, UPS, Fedex, etc.) just fine, but some Mom & Pop that sees two customers a day must stay shut down?
Open it all up and let the public figure out how best to stay safe. And let the blue states and cities hibernate as long as they want to. One thing about epidemics that centuries have shown to be true. They ALL have pretty much the same life cycle. They only die out after you reach "herd immunity". Get it now, or get it later. Take your pick.
8 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
mc squared 4/23/2020 12:53:26 PM (No. 388940)
Has anyone ever said that journalists are essential? I don't think so.
2 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
RedWhite&Blue2 4/23/2020 1:04:07 PM (No. 388954)
Turn off ALL tv until this ends.
NO tv person is essential!
They’re ALL sock puppets who should ALL be quarantined like WE are!
NO TV until it’s over!
SHUT IT DOWN!
1 person likes this.
Reply 33 - Posted by:
Scribelus 4/23/2020 1:59:33 PM (No. 389004)
Always alert to profit from yet another crisis the Socialist Party of Death has learned from Lenin's dictum that 'Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism'.
1 person likes this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
frew 4/23/2020 3:58:00 PM (No. 389159)
Sorry, but the state and local governments have broad authority to act in the interest of public safety. Yes, it's in the Constitution. See Article 10. They can prohibit almost anything and lock people up in isolation if those people are a danger to others. The only way a regulation would be unconstitutional is if it restricts rights unreasonably and without good cause. Granted that some of these edicts are not reasonable, but most of them are in line with the public interest. Most of the time they are doing what the experts are telling them to do, and that's good cover for them.
Nobody ever had the right to do stupid things that put other people in danger of disease and death. That's just not a right people are losing here.
0 people like this.
Reply 35 - Posted by:
Red Ghost 4/23/2020 4:17:20 PM (No. 389174)
Even as his subjects were protesting, the Illinois governor just added another month until the end of May to his lock down. I live under the NY Governor's tyranny, and I am sick to death of hearing these officials who are getting their paychecks and benefits, pontificating about how their states must continue to remain in lock down. Here and now I say that ANY OFFICIAL who has locked down their state MUST forego their salaries and benefits. And that goes for ALL non-essential public employees. I say this as Benito Cuomo snarked that protesters in NY who want the state open because they are out of jobs should go an get an "essential job." What a POS he is.
If all non-essential public employees and ALL public officials in these states had their paychecks and benefits stopped, we would see these states opened in a NY minute and Whuhan flu victims, be dammed.
0 people like this.