The National Football League (NFL) has jumped with fervor into establishing and enforcing mandates that players and coaches wear masks in the name of countering coronavirus. The NFL is taking this action despite it not being demonstrated that masks provide any net protection against coronavirus infection, and despite the fact that coronavirus does not pose a major risk of death or even serious sickness for most people.
How absurd can the coronavirus panic become? Let the New York City government school system illustrate. Despite a random testing of school system students and teachers finding only 0.18 percent testing positive for coronavirus (a miniscule amount likely even inflated with false positive results), New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to use a supposed major coronavirus threat as an excuse for shutting down in-person classes throughout the New York City school system.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden seems to want to impose a countrywide lockdown in the name of countering coronavirus. While some state governors who have been imposing their own coronavirus crackdowns for over half a year can be expected to cheer such a move by the United States government, other governors, along with many state legislators, can be expected to resist such a US government mass infringement on the liberty of people in their states.
Chicken Little governors and mayors across America are in the process of upping their coronavirus crackdowns. And Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden even appears to want to impose a countrywide lockdown in the name of countering coronavirus.
But, coronavirus is not a dangerous medical issue for most people. In contrast, draconian government actions taken in the name of countering coronavirus are a major threat causing great damage to people’s physical, mental, and economic condition. The “anticoronavirus” government actions also infringe liberty — prohibiting, through the imposition of prison-like mandates, much of what brings joy to life.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been saying during his presidential campaign that he favors locking down the entire county if scientific advisors tell him that is the right course for dealing with coronavirus. This week, Biden announced his COVID-19 Advisory Board. Presumably, its members are among the scientific advisors who Biden will look to for the go-ahead for locking down all of America.
Indeed, Biden stated in announcing the advisory board that it “will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”
A new interview at Yahoo Finance with one of the advisory board’s members suggests Americans should start preparing for a Biden lockdown.
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is pursuing recounts and court challenges in an effort to establish that Trump won the popular vote in several states that media organizations have said were won by Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden. Even if the campaign’s efforts are unsuccessful, state legislators in some or all of these states, should they conclude the election in their states was won by Trump, could exercise their power under the United States Constitution to award Trump’s electors in those states entrance to the Electoral College that will vote in December on who becomes president and vice president.
Thus, there is an avenue for Trump to win the presidential election even if his recount and court efforts are not successful.
Donald Rainwater ran this year an unusually popular governor campaign for a Libertarian Party candidate. As I wrote in early October, the popularity of Rainwater’s campaign appeared to arise largely because of his standing out as the candidate in the race for Indiana governor who presented clear and strong opposition to the reelection-seeking Republican governor’s tyrannical coronavirus mandates, while the Democratic contender argued the governor’s mandates were not severe enough.
The Tuesday general election brought approval of several statewide ballot measures rolling back the war on drugs.
Traveling around Texas, I have found that areas where election votes go strongly in favor of Republican candidates tend, during the coronavirus crackdown, to be the best for stopping for gas, food, or other shopping, or just to use a restroom. In these areas it seems I am least likely to be accosted by some person telling me to put on a mask. Indeed, often in these areas a store will not have a “Masks Required” sign on the door and employees will not be wearing masks or will be wearing them on their chins or with their noses exposed.
Across Europe, supposedly in reaction to rises in the numbers of coronavirus cases, many national governments are imposing increased crackdowns that severely restrict the exercise of liberty. These coronavirus cases are in large part derived from testing that produces many false positives and that is often conducted on relatively young and healthy people who have very little risk of dying or even becoming seriously sick from a coronavirus infection.
Of course, the European politicians exerting their newly increased power say “the science” supports their tyrannical actions. And they will tend to give platforms to doctors and other scientists who back up those claims while ignoring or deriding the many doctors and other scientists who disagree.
If Joe Biden were president of the United States now, we can expect he would be following the course of these European power grabbers. The only likely reasons for restraint, aside from the potential of overwhelming popular revolt, would be if Biden had already implemented and maintained a countrywide crackdown of such high degree that he thought he could not feasibly increase it further or if congressional opposition or court orders managed to stop him.