Why the Remedy May Be Worse Than the Disease

Townhall.com ^ | March 17, 2020 | Dennis Prager

[Alberta's Child]

To me, any “crisis” involving an infectious disease is a total farce as long as they keep the NYC subway operating.

Count me among those who recognized this whole thing as a media-driven craze from the first day:

[redangus]

Women getting the vote. Women want to feel safe. They are also more emotionally driven than men. So much of the changes from a free society to a ‘safe’ society has been driven by the reaction of women to things that men are more likely to shrug off as sh*t happens events. It is not insignificant that Ben Franklin told a woman that our founders had given her a free nation if we could keep it. We have been Oprahized as a country. We can longer accept nor can we deal with hardship. We have a whole generation that demands safe spaces. Everyone must be protected from everything, except of course government.

[redangus]

I agree with that. I told my wife yesterday I expect 2-3 weeks and young people will start hitting the streets again unless there is a huge uptick in confirmed cases and deaths or they call out the National Guard to stop them.

[Carriage Hill]

Working Link:

https://townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/2020/03/17/why-the-remedy-may-be-worse-than-the-disease-n2565082

[The Pack Knight]

That is already happening. There was an article yesterday about Kid Rock’s business partner openly refusing to close their restaurant in Nashville. I don’t doubt others will likewise refuse to commit economic seppuku just because the local mayor ordered them to. We might see very soon whether local governments are willing to carry out threats to arrest defiant restaurateurs, as NYPD made.

It will be interesting to see what happens. I suspect at least some local governments, and possibly even some state governors, are acting under dubious legal authority. While states have broad police powers, those powers belong to the legislature, not the governor or local governments. For example, here in Houston, the county government just ordered all bars and restaurants to close except for take out. But the only statutory authority I can find for such a measure belongs to the state health commission, not county or city governments.

Also, I expect a flood of inverse condemnation suits against state and local governments by restaurant owners, asserting that these forced closures constitute a regulatory taking and seeking compensation under the Fifth Amendment and it’s counterpart in state constitutions. I’m not sure they will be successful, because temporary emergency measures are not normally considered takings, but I do expect them to try.

[Alberta's Child]

As soon as these restrictions started being announced, I predicted that they’d never be enforced. The governments imposing them are probably OK with an 85% compliance rate ... and the remaining 15% either bravely defying the order or eventually complying due to a lack of customers and/or employees.

I suspect no business owners are going to get in trouble for remaining open unless they try to fire employees who don’t show up for work.

[gogeo]

Excellent read.

[gogeo]

Cancer from fast foods No fast foods.

Dude. I've still got money on my McD card.

[freedomjusticeruleoflaw]

Long after we have destroyed our economy we will finally realize that we haven’t moved towards a conclusion... We’re doing it WRONG.

[gogeo]

Dennis needs to contact the admin to offer his expert medical and epidemiological analysis of the situation.

It's possible to disagree without being a jackass. Why not give it a try?

[a fool in paradise]

one community already banned gun an liquor sales.

[super7man]

3. If there is no threat but the government reacts to it, then at least people feel confident that the government was being appropriately cautious.

But if their reaction destroys the economy, the government "caution" will not be greeted with acceptance in the future.

[LouieFisk]

Prager’s area of expertise isn’t exactly immunology or epidemiology. Good on some other things, but I’d take his medical proclamations with a grain of salt. Others’ mileage may vary.

[ladyjane]

A month from now it will be interesting to read this thread and see how close the various predictions are. Will everything have blown over by then? Will it be as bad as some predict or turn out to be nothing. If the latter, it might be a great time to buy Apple stock or airlines stock or...?

[Alberta's Child]

That’s the old “boy who cried wolf” problem. A government can get away with it once or twice over a long period of time. After that, nobody will listen to it anymore.

Interestingly, we may be at a point now where the government MUST make a bigger deal about it than is warranted — because the disruption is already bad enough that our leaders will feel a need to justify all the damage that has already occurred.

[gogeo]

Are there any facts he offered you believe to be in error?

[gogeo]

I'm not looking forward to the next month. I'm in the process of idling two thirds of my fleet and laying off 80% of my crew.

Will that be enough? I don't know.

[PeterPrinciple]

“boy who cried wolf”

---

There is a reason the children stories of the boy who cried wolf and chicken little have been so popular throughout the ages.

Because they are true and this has happened often.

[southland]

Bookmar’ko

[LouieFisk]

I noted his “expert medical and epidemiological analysis of the situation”. The guy has to write a red-meat-tossing column once a week, so I don’t really expect him to get some things, such as this, right.