Quote:
Originally Posted by
spacediver
If the answer to the above is yes, then there is a better chance that the right decisions will be made, even if those decisions involve the abrogation of individual liberty.
My position here is not inconsistent with the notion that there is something fundamentally crucial about the individual, especially when it comes to freedom of thought and expression.
You are advocating for a benevolent dictatorship. I appreciate your honesty, even though I would kill you if I had to, to preserve my freedom. Many of us would, and you would find that to be a problem. I really hope it doesn't come down to that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Yngvi
In the United States, the constitution outlines very specifically when individual rights may be infringed upon for the greater good. Those requirements are either a prior declaration of martial law or a national health emergency declaration by the president, in addition or prior written notification from the president to congress of specifically what measures need to be taken, a thorough justification of those measures and a statement of when they will expire. None of these steps have been taken, so infringements on freedoms are unconstitutional. Mayors do not have the power they have grabbed, police do not have the authority they have usurped, health departments are not law-making agencies, governors can declare martial law in a state, but it is subject to judicial and federal oversight. Not one governor has declared martial law, because that would be political suicide, except in the most dire of circumstances.
The current political response has bypassed not only the constitution, but also the system of checks and balances that has kept the United States free and intact.
You are attempting to explain this to a Canadian. He cannot understand. He
must not understand.
Let me try, one more time, to summarize my position for you, before you risk your life trying to take my liberty: In Wichita County, Texas there have been 62 confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of a county population of 131,000. This is a case rate of 0.04%. Of that number, there have been 2 deaths, for a CFR of 3.2% but a death rate of 0.0015% of the population. We have no idea about the number of infections, because widespread testing has not been done, but the number is obviously higher than 62. But this does not matter to me --
2 deaths out of 131,000 is not a significant number of deaths to justify giving up my liberty, and I will not do it voluntarily.