My dear readers, you’ve heard a lot lately about protests by anti-quarantine groups.
You’ve also heard me expound on the dangers of power-hungry leaders trying to use this national coronavirus emergency to advance their own despicable, corrupt, authoritarian, anti-immigrant, anti-environment, thieving agendas.
Let me set the record straight.
While I still stand by my original statement that preserving American liberty and democracy should be foremost in our priorities, I do wish to clarify exactly what that means.
1. It does not mean having the freedom to go out and infect other citizens just because you’re tired of staying home under quarantine.
2. It does not mean giving free rein to would-be kings and dictators who think they’re entitled to take away freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc., just because the vast majority of the country disagrees with their bungling, nefarious attempts to amass more power and profit while the country is at its most vulnerable point in history.
3. It does not mean freedom to ignore the citizens who are most at risk during this crisis – health care personnel, emergency police and fire responders, grocery clerks, social workers, meat packing plant employees, and other essential laborers who keep our economy going – by depriving them of basic on-the-job protections while treating COVID victims or working in dangerous front line situations.
4. It does not mean writing off thousands of already-recorded deaths and countless more future fatalities, deeming them inconsequential, unimportant, or trivial simply because of a wrongly-perceived, so-called “inferior” status owing to advanced age, pre-existing medical conditions, skin color, gender, religion, economic caste or immigration status. EVERY life is precious, and NO PERSON is less valuable than another!
The protesters are a small, noisy minority
Finally, it is critical to point out that these protest groups popping up in different areas of the country, demonstrating against state governments’ stay-at-home orders, are not as numerous or as powerful as they would like you to believe. They are not a majority; over 60% of our nation still believes strongly in following the advice of medical experts, maintaining the quarantine rather than rashly rushing back to work while the pandemic is still raging. And, most significantly, most of these protest groups are being funded by conservative, extreme-right, nationalist political organizations who are the minions of the pretend-president and his current regime in Washington. Don’t be swayed by their rhetoric, or misled by media reports that make them seem bigger than they are.
Yes, I have said “don’t make yourselves sheep, for the wolves will eat you.” But it’s also good to remember that liberty carries with it weighty responsibilities – foremost among them the duty to care for our world and for each other.
Let’s all go forward with this in mind.
Your humble servant,
B. Franklin