COVID Update November 18: With 20% of hospitals, mostly in rural America, well beyond staff capacity, many without spare beds, Americans are enjoying their gift of freedom. 1/

The freedom to show our faces, enter bars, dine in restaurants, avoid taking tests, not notifying acquaintances, continuing to travel when exposed are being upheld. 2/

These specific tests of our freedom were not seen as important by, say, our founding fathers to do much as hint at specifically— despite a plague in Philadelphia during their day. 3/

Our reading of the constitution is that they defined “a well-regulated militia” to specifically mean anyone could carry a military grade weapon, but their silence on masks was, what, accidental? 4/

Whatever freedoms we feel like we have were by and large earned by other people. Civil rights marchers, suffragettes, soldiers in Normandy— what are who were they fighting for? 5/

How are they different than the great anti-mask protesters of today? Why isn’t this guy the next Rosa Parks? 6/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.insider.com/louisiana-lawmaker-decries-mask-mandate-nazi-germany-comparison-2020-7%3famp

Also do these guys need to use a chainsaw for everything? It’s a surgical mask. I could get the job done with cuticle scissors or in a pinch my teeth. 7/

This isn’t a fringe point of view.
The governor of South Dacovid, @KristiNoem where on some days half the tests come back positive is against requiring masks. 8/

One challenge Noem and McCormick has is they are confusing the concept of freedom to mean no responsibility. And that’s not how it works. 9/

As these boots trappers like to remind us, we’re not supposed to be given anything. We get there with hard work. And the freedoms we’ve fought for require vigilance & defending. 10/

Is the government telling us what we must do an infringement on our freedom? Or does society get to have rules— rules that keep us free.

Is being sick and dependent on a ventilator free? Is 8 months of very little progress to get back to life free? 11/

Do we “deserve” to have this pandemic over without sharing any of the costs?

And how exactly does that happen? In every instance it involves the government— investing in science, passing safety measures, defining rules. 12/

There is cost less answer. There is no pandemic opt-out? There is no way to do this unless individuals are willing to export the costs to others and not take them themselves.

Society prevents that. With something called laws. 13/

Don’t let anyone pretend that there are only two states of being: irresponsibility and totalitarianism.

That a law or a rule in our society is a step towards dictatorship. It’s a false dichotomy. 14/

That word “mandate” sure grates on people. Well, if there was evidence people would take care of each other without a mandate, one wouldn’t be needed.

Sadly, more than half of Americans now are refusing to wear masks or comply with any protocols. 15/

Nurses and doctors are “mandated” to take care of us. Grocery clerks are “mandated” to show up to work if they want to get paid. Those aren’t freedoms. Those are people with responsibilities. 16/

So what is owed them? What is our responsibility to them? What are we doing to earn the freedoms we value? 17/

“Freedom” is a cop out word. It’s cheapened by the Rand Paul who says he is “pro vaccine but pro freedom.” Scott Atlas tweeted misinformation about masks.

These people haven’t lifted a finger for the freedom we enjoy. 18/

The America they want. One where we all indulge in whatever behavior we want isn’t how anything great happens. It’s how anything good is wasted. 19/

Those guys are the product of generations of hard work topped off by lifetimes without any deprivation.

At the first sign that something is required of us, they don’t stand up, they whine. They don’t set an example of selflessness, the rebel rouse & behave like babies.20/

We’ve been handed amazing gifts. But freedom is ours to squander. If we choose to waste it all on a society that doesn’t care about others, don’t compare that to a virtue like freedom.

Call it what it is: the privilege not to care & the weakness not to sacrifice. /end