Will Liberty Survive Covid?

Those who warned us of authoritarianism over the last half-decade failed to warn us it would manifest under the advice of unelected public health officials trying to protect us from a virus. I suppose they were right, in a sense, now that governments world-wide have seized control of entire economies and livelihoods in order to “keep us safe”. I doff my hat. But it was always the same bric-a-brac about strong-men and fascists we were told to watch out for.

I’ve always believed that the Western welfare-state bureaucracy would lead to tyranny, dictator or not. This is a necessary conclusion for those who agree with the conquest theory of the state. Franz Oppenheimer famously divided the means of acquiring the necessities for life into two categories: the economic and the political means. Man can acquire a product through his own labor (the economic means), or he can steal it, appropriating the labor of others (the political means). The law-abiding individual sustains his life through the economic means, using his own labor, while the government increases its power and wealth through the political means, exploiting the labor of its citizens. Looked at it this way, it became increasingly difficult to distinguish a government from a criminal organization. But I had hoped, naively, that this species of despotism would be a soft one, gradual enough for any freedom-loving person to escape its meddling grasp before it was too late. Had I remembered that freedom could be crushed under the penny-loafer, too, I might have escaped to the wilderness long ago.

Shame on us. We should have known better when those in power started using prison terms to describe our future condition. We should have known better when authorities used fear and force to “slow the spread”, not to protect the people, but to protect their so-called “universal healthcare systems” lest they run out of beds. We should have known better when they demanded we effectively ruin our own economies, our own businesses, as if healthcare required an unemployed population instead of an employed, insured and tax-paying one. We should have known when the healthy were ordered to wear masks as if they were ill, a mark not only of compliance, but also of ignorance. Now police checkpoints, quarantines, fines, curfews, state-mandated health measures are the quotidian facets of life.

At any rate, the authoritarian approach has proven itself useless, especially in countries that once held freedom as a guiding principle. More than a year into it, infection and death continue while hunger, poverty, and depression mount. Public parks have given way to tent cities; entire industries are in free-fall; small businesses are shuddered, livelihoods ruined. Fear, uncertainty, loneliness, despair…the entire process has been one of diminishing returns.

Something good has come from all this. I feel that, every now and then, an open society must experience oppression or else liberty is taken for granted. We haven’t been attacked, murdered, or sent to internment camps just yet. But this situation has revealed the arbitrariness, tyranny and incompetence of modern government. It has proven, I think, that our experts and technocrats are unable to protect the individual better than she herself can. The economic means are far more powerful than the political means, and liberty is far more precious than state security. What’s left now but to discard these trappings and fire up the roaring 20’s?

The stupid Liberty insurance commercials will survive covid. I hate those commercials.

We haven’t been attacked, murdered, or sent to internment camps just yet.

That probably won't be necessary. Just give the people newer, better smart phones and keep the social media sites going.
Google and Apple have it planned out.

a reply to: CitizenZero


That was a great read. Looking forward to more of your threads.

a reply to: CitizenZero

It will not. Liberty is already gone. It was gone the second that half the country bent over for the very first “lockdown.”

The ONLY way to get it back is for the non-thinking people to start thinking. If they would just dare themselves to question CNN, they would see how obvious this grift is. But I think too many people have fallen in love with being programmed, being told what to think and do, and being filled with hate and false moral superiority.

MANY of us called this from day 1. I did. I said the lockdowns will never end. From here on they will pick and choose which businesses are “essential.”. When they take away freedoms, they don’t give them back.

And anyone who thought that this was a temporary thing was being incredibly ignorant- and I’m being a good girl by saying “ignorant.”

Excellent post, thank you.
I will use a couple of those lines in the near future for sure.


a reply to: CitizenZero

It depends on where you live, the skill sets you have for commerce, and how much debt you are in.

For example: Here in my home state of Montana the new Republican governor has lifted the state's mask mandate, but some local governments still have them.

Some states are still full lock down.

If you farm things have been good with prices up across the board. Transportation, tech, and grocery are a few I can think of off the top of my head as well that have seen steady hiring that I have skill sets in.

Then there are recreational and medical marijuana jobs that have been growing, and in my area construction is still ticking along full bore too. I have skill sets in these as well.

When it comes to income stability and growth I havn't seen any shortages of opportunity in my local area for many of my skill sets.

On the tyranny front my state just passed constitutional carey and banned any local government or school board from being able to adopt laws or regulations contrary to state gun law.

This means people in my state can concealed carey with no permit and no one to tell them otherwise except the state.

I can hunt fish camp out float the river boat the lakes you name it, all within 30 minute drive tops.

I see things on the freedom front much differntly than most because of where I live and the varying skill sets I have at my disposal for earning an income through commerce.

I am not rich by any means unless you consider my ability to be fluid and remain financially secure in almost any market pandemic or not as having value which I do.

Debt is another big factor in liberty in my opinion.

Debt limits your options and when your indebted under interest you become a slave to the lender.

For some this is a basic moral/religious principal.

For others this may be a new or foreign concept.

I have always lived my life debt free. No credit card balances for over a month. Pay em off every month get free cash back on groceries and gas.

No mortgage, but those are ok in certain situations in my book. Paid for my place $ and improved it with $. Maintain an emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses. Invest/save 15% for retirement. I save some and invest in performing assets I can control 100%.

I have 0 money in the markets.

Has the corona hoax/pandemic effected me?

Sure! I get looks when out in public for not wearing a mask. I say I have a health condition that precludes waring a mask, and no one has refused me service.

I have gone from leaning primarily on one skill set to dusting off some old ones, but that has been fun, and I have more free time now.

Other than that, I would say the great pandemic/hoax of corona (depending on who you believe) has left me mostly unaffected on the liberty front, and in some ways I have more liberty now than ever.

I understand I may be part of a rather small minority that feels this way, but I believe the principals I live by that have allowed me to be in that minority have and will always serve towards the betterment of my life and protection of my liberties.

If things change in my locality I am willing to seek greener pastures. If needed I am fully prepared to fade into the background and watch the world go crazy from a safe distance. For now I feel just fine where I'm at.

a reply to: CitizenZero

More than a year into it, infection and death continue while hunger, poverty, and depression mount. Public parks have given way to tent cities; entire industries are in free-fall; small businesses are shuddered, livelihoods ruined. Fear, uncertainty, loneliness, despair…the entire process has been one of diminishing returns.

I'm starting to believe they just really don't care... same way they constantly virtue signal but really don't give a crap. It's all about ego and ideologies for them. True compassion and empathy doesn't exist in their realm, it's merely a shallow facade underpinned by a notion of the "common good", meanwhile countless people are severely suffering and they couldn't care less. It's far more important to tow the establishment line and push completely bogus science such as telling people to wear two masks. I haven't even seen any solid science to show a single mask provides any benefit. They claim to believe in science but all they really believe in is reactionary politics and using fear to control people.

a reply to: KansasGirl

I agree, But as Alfred said, "Some people just want to watch the world burn"

Accelerationists exist.

Found this news item that makes clear once more that the US government requirement for COVID-infected people to wear masks never made the US federal government a dictatorship:
www.nytimes.com...