Posted on 03/18/2020 10:38:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
In his 2004 book, “Against Leviathan – Government Power and a Free Society,” Robert Higgs explains how our federal government has transformed from one of “defined and limited” powers as envisioned by our Founders, into one driven by a “Crisis Constitution.” As Higgs clearly establishes, we are living in “an age of permanent emergency.”
The still-developing COVID-19 pandemic illustrates that this “emergency” mindset today is directing the hands of government leaders, not only in our nation’s capital, but in statehouses and city councils across the country.
It is by now clear that the COVID-19 pandemic represents a serious health problem. At a minimum, individuals should be heeding common sense hygiene rules ranging from the personal – washing hands frequently – to the socially interactive – minimize contacts with high-risk populations such as the elderly and infirm.
From a regulatory and resource management standpoint, President Trump and governors across the country are directing and implementing appropriate and much-needed measures to reduce red tape and make additional funds available, thereby helping government agencies and private businesses to better meet the challenges posed by this “novel” virus.
Actions that bear a direct and reasonable relationship to the health crisis posed by the virus, and which are undertaken by government and private-sector entities in response thereto, make sense and are appropriate in current circumstances, even if they minimally or tangentially impact individual liberties guaranteed by our Constitution.
Beyond such steps – when we enter the realm of far-reaching and vague “emergency” declarations that go beyond any reasoned relationship to containing and defending against the virus – we find ourselves in the dangerous territory described by Higgs. It is this crisis-driven environment in which even the Supreme Court of the United States has declared more than once that, “[we] must surrender or forgo [sic] exercising rights which in other times could not be impaired.”
In earlier times, government power grabs would be met with at least a noticeable degree of critical debate. Not so in our post-911 world. In fact, in recent days “emergency” steps already taken by state and local, and especially the federal governments, are being criticized openly as being inadequate, with many pundits and commentators demanding that more and further draconian restrictions on individuals and businesses be implemented.
In this environment, Nanny State officials, ever eager to expand their turf, have seized on the COVID-19 pandemic to justify expanding power in areas they have long sought to control, most notably, 2nd Amendment rights. For example, a new COVID-19 declaration by the Mayor of Champaign, Illinois includes the power to ban the sale of firearms, ammunition, alcohol, and gasoline, as well as confiscate and take ownership of any private property.
In this latest crisis, as in earlier ones, cries for governments at all levels “to do something” quickly drown out reasoned warnings that many such measures go beyond constitutionally permissible bounds, even past boundaries that routinely have been expanded by presidents, legislators, and judges fearful that if they do not heed calls “do something” they will be blamed if further problems occur.
The Pandora’s Box is opened wider with each new “crisis.” Each time bites are taken out of our constitutionally guaranteed rights, it sets precedent for government officials that follow. Champaign’s Mayor today can point to similar gun control edicts issued previously by other local officials – New Orleans in 2005 and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017 – as a precedent for her gun confiscation power in 2020.
The “National Emergencies Act” cited by Trump last week in his federal declaration places at Uncle Sam’s fingertips a range of powers that potentially limit virtually every activity in which an individual or business might engage, from banking and travel, to use of the internet. State and local “emergency” declarations, of course, add to restrictions on individual liberty imposed by the president’s declaration of a “national emergency.”
Compounding the constitutional infirmities with contemporary “emergency declarations" is the fact that the strictures being imposed on citizens throughout the country are founded not on any clear definition or understanding of what actually constitutes an “emergency," the term is nowhere in law clearly defined. Sadly, it appears far more important to most Americans these days for government to “do something” than it is for government to do something constitutional.
The US has been under about 30 states of emergency for years. Too late to worry about ‘emergency creep’ now.
bmp
No it isn't. At least, not any more serious than numerous other problems... At this point, I'd say the irrational panic around it is a serious ECONOMIC problem, and it is a serious FREEDOM problem.
Tar and feathering for the little Queen of Champaign.
Someone sniffles and she declares herself dictator?
Drag her out in the public square and declare her done.
What is the current SoE that we’re living under? Who invoked it? When was it invoked? Why was it invoked?
.....” I’d say the irrational panic around it is a serious ECONOMIC problem, and it is a serious FREEDOM problem”....
Neither matters if you’re dead.
Patriot Act and 9-11 were on the front end of this permanent crisis and forever war on terror and now war on corona. Most just accepted this and the permanent ME wars and executive orders as a new way of life. Those that opposed it were typically chastised. Biden and Hillary endorsed it as did many neocons. Where are we actually headed? It is a worrisome time while the media frets about calling it the “China” virus.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
I am astonished and saddened by how many of those people we have posting here on FR.
Wasn’t Concord and Lexington the result of an emergency declaration by the authorities in charge at the time.?
Sadly, it appears far more important to most Americans these days for government to “do something” than it is for government to do something constitutional...
Yeah and that’s REALLY bad. Taking guns, property, freedom of movement..to save lives.
How many lives are worth the trade off??
Don’t mean to sound cold but making the speed limit 5 mph would save a hell of a lot of lives too.
Prohibiting alcohol and cigarettes and fast food also.
and Guns and Alcohol and ammo are Already victims in some states...
Which Roman emperor put the fault of his gaining absolute power on the populace demanding that he seize it?
Why are you even posting? Shouldn't you be out trying to find toilet paper? Or maybe you will prefer to wait until the government shuts everyone into their homes, and see if they provide you with your essential TP ration, because you're too frightened to go outside?
Ayn Rand called it, the ethics of emergencies. Things that may be necessary & proper in an emergency are often the very essence of the everyday Collectivist programs...
Ventura county COMP,ETELY shut down population 900,000 confirmed cases 7 this has become utterly ridiculous what the hell has happened to this republic!!!
These fricking Liberal legislators are orgasmic over this everyday it who of them can outdo each other marshal law REALLY!!! Although EVERYTHING in Ventura county had been shut down with only 7 confirmed cases, I just want to CRY right now!! Thank god I lived most of my life when I did I don’t have a whole lot of time left on this earth and I have no children!! It won’t be long this country will be Venezuela!!!!
I am astonished and saddened by how many of those people we have posting here on FR.
It’s clearly a test to see what the population will accept.
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