Martin “Modey” Hicks, the mayor of Grants, New Mexico, has had enough of the mandate that businesses remain closed in the name of countering coronavirus. Russell Contreras reported last week at the Associated Press that Hicks, in defiance of an ongoing shutdown order from New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, “said he’s giving businesses permission to reopen on Monday and is ordering the police force in the city of about 9,000 people to prevent any State Police officers from issuing lockdown violation citations.”
Continue readingWhen you come across an editorial titled “Libertarianism and the Coronavirus Pandemic” at the website of the Cato institute that describes itself as “a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace,” what do you expect? You may expect the editorial to argue against local, state, and national governments in America, in the name of countering coronavirus, prohibiting people from exercising many individual rights including rights to travel, assemble, engage in commerce, and even just leave home.
Well, think again.
Continue readingA while back, I made two predictions regarding the coronavirus crackdown in America. First, in an April 11 Ron Paul Institute (RPI) article, I predicted that across the country there would be a proliferation of protests with a growing number of supporters. Second, in RPI articles published on March 25 and April 4, I predicted that continuing the coronavirus crackdown would increasingly involve physical violence by police enforcing draconian mandates and by people confronted by police for just trying to get on with their lives — something in many ways forbidden under the crackdown.
Continue readingIf many more politicians viewed the coronavirus crackdown the way Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has viewed it, America may have avoided plummeting into economic devastation with tens of millions of people losing their jobs and with many small businesses closed down never to reopen due to the financial hit taken by their owners.
Many Americans may also have retained their ability to exercise freely individual rights, such as by traveling where they choose, visiting with friends and family, and taking other actions local, state, and national governments have forbade in the name of countering coronavirus.
“For the children” is often a rallying cry for increasing government power at the expense of liberty. Maybe now it should be a rallying cry for ending the coronavirus crackdown.
Continue readingRon Paul, in a Monday interview with host Dan Dicks at Press for Truth, warns that people “should be leery about” coronavirus vaccines that may come out. Further, says Paul, a doctor and former United States House of Representatives member, “right now I wouldn’t think there is any indication for anybody to take them,” noting that “scare tactics” are being used to pressure people into thinking they should take such potential vaccines to protect against coronavirus.
Paul supports this conclusion by stressing in the interview the potential danger of a vaccine as well as the overstated threat from coronavirus.
Some people will be heralding Texas Governor Greg Abbott for his announcement today that he will be taking yet-to-be-explained steps to allow the reopening sometime of some businesses closed in the state’s coronavirus crackdown. Easing up on the restrictions is a positive for liberty. But, if you are looking for someone to admire for taking on the coronavirus crackdown in Texas, I suggest Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price fits the bill much better.
Continue readingAfter weeks of the coronavirus crackdown’s extreme interference with the ability of Americans to exercise their individual rights and support themselves financially, more people are starting to protest on the sidewalks and outside government buildings. Expect protests to pop up in more places across the country and the number of participants to increase as the crackdown continues.
Continue readingPoliticians and the people charged with enforcing politicians’ directives really can be like the pigs in George Orwell’s book Animal Farm.
The pigs’ express commandment for governing became, over time, “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal to others.” The “more equal” animals were the pigs in charge for whom the rules they imposed on other animals did not necessarily apply.
For examples of this commandment in practice, we can consider haircuts during the government-mandated closing of “nonessential” businesses, including salons and barber shops, in the name of fighting coronavirus. No professional haircut is allowed for the regular person in many parts of America. But, for politicians and cops, the rules may not apply.
Reading Ludwig von Mises Institute President Jeff Deist’s Monday article “All Crises are Local,” I was struck by a mention that “some sheriffs too have stood bravely against impositions of soft martial law” in the name of countering coronavirus.
The link in that passage from Deist’s article is to a Megan Fox article at PJ Media concerning Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols announcing his decision to exercise restraint regarding enforcement of Maine Governor Janet T. Mills’ order, purportedly to fight coronavirus, imposing limitations on the exercise of individual rights.