The terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had a profound and lasting effect on the United States. Thousands of people were killed, and the government responded. It responded by launching the military to seek out and kill those responsible. But then it became more than that. It became an unending holy war against a tactic — terrorism.
Sounds reasonable on the surface, but it turned the government against the nation’s principles.
Legislators enacted laws and presidents signed laws that gave way to spying on citizens without a warrant, warrantless searches and indefinite detentions. It even led to a president ordering the United States military to kill a U.S. citizen with no trial, no formal charges being brought and no form of guaranteed due process.
That war on terror, that response to the 9/11 attacks led to a loss of guaranteed liberties clearly stated in the Bill of Rights. What is concerning now is whether the reaction to the novel Coronavirus will have a similarly long-lasting and detrimental effect. Will the cases of COVID-19 become a microbial 9/11?
Many of the suggestions — basic rules of hygiene — are truly sensible and should be practiced even with no pandemic. But reactions from various governments, state and local, for the most part seem to reflect more paranoia than reason.
Or maybe it’s just a test run to follow the advice of former White House Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel who said in 2008, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order “that allows the state to commandeer hotels and medical facilities to treat coronavirus patients and permits government officials to hold teleconferences in private without violating open meeting laws.”
Champaign, Ill. Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen issued an executive order declaring an emergency and giving her the power to ban the sale of firearms, ammunition, take possession of private property and get full title to the property, and to prohibit or restrict traffic into and out of the city, WAND-TV reported last week. She could also shut off power and ban the sale, or even a gift, of gasoline.
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio is advocating for the nationalization of industries and factories that could produce medical supplies. There’s a video of his remarks here.
De Blasio fails to acknowledge that the CDC prohibited testing in Washington state unless the test kits were CDC approved. But the CDC test kits were faulty. It also limited the number of tests that could be performed. He also fails to acknowledge the destructive nature that nationalization has on all liberties. He should check out Venezuela.
There are now bans on how many people can congregate, that they must disengage socially. It’s called social distancing. Up to a point that makes sense, but where does it stop? It began with states and cities saying no more than 1,000 people in a venue at a time. Then that began dropping to a recommendation from President Trump that people avoid crowds of more than 10.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has ordered people to follow guidelines limiting gatherings to no more than 50 people, and that includes religious gatherings, according to the Baltimore Sun. The Sun also reported that state and local police agencies are prepared to arrest people who disregard the directives.
State governments, including Pennsylvania’s, have closed restaurants and bars. Granted, it’s supposedly only for a couple of weeks, but governments use a special dictionary. It’s one in which temporary can sometimes mean permanent. Withholding taxes from a person’s paycheck began in 1943 and was deemed a temporary measure. Seventy-seven years can be a person’s entire lifetime. Far from temporary. As has been said, “There’s nothing more permanent than a temporary tax.”
Once people acquiesce to such emergency powers, it gives those who love power a chance to do it again.
As J.D. Tuccille wrote for a recent Reason.com article, “Nothing makes government grow like a crisis. People get scared, politicians respond to that fear with promises that the state will step in and make everything better, and government ends up larger and more powerful. The pandemic of COVID-19 coronavirus threatens a world-wide wave of sickness, but it's the healthiest thing to happen to government power in a very long time. As it leaves government with a rosy glow, however, our freedom will end up more haggard than ever.”
As Randolph Bourne said more than 100 years ago, “War is the health of the state.”
That could be a world war, a war on a tactic or a war on a microbe. Welcome to the new 9/11.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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