Is This What Tyranny Looks Like?
I put my face mask on and went to a small corner grocery store this morning. The story I heard of how Utah is enforcing its borders against other Americans got me thinking. The power grab is real. Once states usurp power, they rarely, if ever, give it back to the people. We sort of adopt the attitude of “adjust or self-destruct.” Why do we adjust? Why would we self-destruct? Wouldn’t petitioning our government for a redress of grievances be a better, more constitutional choice?
Your governor took an oath to defend your state constitution. Oh, they’ll tell you they are protecting you, but they are not your local sheriff. You put them in office to preserve, protect, and defend the state constitution, not monitor your life. That’s right. Even in crisis situations. They can strongly suggest, but possibly arrest you for violating pretended legislation? This is not right, and Americans know it.
In Utah, authorities have identified main roads that lead into the state as well as the Salt Lake airport (if it’s your final destination). If you cross into Utah, you get a text message. You will be asked a series of questions, like your contact information, personal information, and your health status. That’s the same story I heard at the store. So, I went home to look this up for myself. It’s true. Of course, Utah isn’t planning to chase you down if you don’t answer the text, but they will if necessary. What defines “necessary?” Grandma rushing to help a daughter who is in pre-term labor? Hurrying to help a dad who had a non-COVID19 medical emergency? Or just a need to check out whether or not the system works?
There’s more… the idea of contact -tracing that has become a part of our daily lexicon is achievable through global surveillance. To track down who you may have been in contact with to slow the spread of the virus, should your right to privacy and free expression suddenly be expendable? I think not!
The Department of Justice is seeking the right to detain you indefinitely without a trial during emergencies, like “natural disasters, civil disobedience, or “other emergency situations.” Let that sink in. Where did a writ of habeas corpus go?
You have the right to go before a judge or court if you are under arrest to secure your release unless lawful grounds are shown for your detention.
Governors are saying that these new restrictions are “for the public good” and “for your protection.” But is it for us? Or is it their feel of power and our acceptance of their justifications that motivates such loss of rights?
James Madison said in Federalist 47, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
This is Common Sense Civics and Citizenship. ??