rafterman Loc: South Florida

"What if the government has it wrong" is a very interesting question, one that all of us should at least consider. This was the subject of an article written by Judge Andrew Napolitano. Please read it and listen to the video before commenting. Go to https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/judge-andrew-napolitano-government to
listen/read it.

How about giving your perspective? Mine is – It is a fruitless chore to second guess anything done with the current coronavirus, Covid-19. Having said that, I consider the handling of this crisis to be a larger-than-life slippery slope of unfortunate however well-meaning, wrong predictions, out-and-out mistakes, and errors in judgment which bordered on total blunders and/or incompetence. From the start, there should not have been a lockdown, and dealing with the virus should have been a decision made strictly between doctor and patient.

For any future health crisis, we should conduct ourselves with the assumption that experts and government are always wrong; and, not permit or sanction them to grossly interfere in our lives. However, we should seek, welcome, consider and sanction expert and elected officials’ recommendations, with the understanding that making decisions affecting life and our health ultimately resides with the individual – NOT THE GOVERNMENT - determining their own destiny. Government regulations should be limited to international dealings for commerce and travel, plus leading and coordinating efforts to create testing procedures as well as developing a vaccine.

There should never be a quarantine on the healthy. Quarantines should be implemented for the sick (history has shown quarantining only the sick has been effective. Google it!). The only lockdown should have been ALL international travel until the virus curve, meeting government standards, was flattened and restarted on a country by country basis.

Since contracting the coronavirus was particularly drastic for people over 65 as well as those with underlining conditions and anticipating another virus would be of similar far-reaching magnitude, as a precaution with the supervision of a physician, they should consider a 2-week self-quarantine. Also, until a vaccine is found, or the virus runs its course, it’s recommended that they limit trips outside their home, wear face masks and use the six-foot physical distancing. Furthermore, the mantra for everyone should be, if you don’t feel good (have a fever, cough, etc.), speak with a doctor to get advice and counsel – and stay at home (self-quarantine) until you feel better. Doing so reduces the possibility of you passing on the problem to someone else or catching something yourself.

Businesses (corporate offices, other workplaces, restaurants, barbershops, etc.) can implement their own physical distancing rules applicable to their business needs (such as plexiglass partitions, staggered working hours, staggering or limiting the numbers to enter into or onto the property, taking temperatures, requiring face masks, etc.). Same for domestic airline travel and cruise ships travel. Let the free market determine whether an individual decides the airline, restaurant, barbershop, or businesses they intend to use agrees with their distancing rules. This is “buyer beware” in reverse, becoming “seller beware” as the conduct regarding a safe and healthy environment will determine and establish if people will use the product or services a business sells or markets.

Lastly, we should change what Judge Napoliano states: From: “What if the government has it wrong – on medicine and the law?”; To: “The government has it wrong – on medicine and the law? “ Essentially, the government should not be permitted to become a draconian monster. All of us should conduct ourselves as we did before the arrival of the 2020 Covid-19 coronavirus with all health care determinations and treatments between the doctor and the patient. Just as the lockdown compelled hospitals to place all elective procedures on hold, hospitals can put similar short-term plans in place until the initial onslaught of the new health bug-a-boo is dealt with - without a complete Covid-19 style lockdown.

Some if you are going to find it appalling that my stance does not discuss the lives “saved” due to the lockdown. I am not a member of the “if only one life is saved, it is worth it” group for this nor will I be for any other health crisis. The current rate of deaths shows no empirical evidence or metrics that prove a lockdown outcome other than personal and economic chaos. The so-called influential experts and reticent politicians won’t even consider using the flu numbers as a measurable starting point. What’s going to happen when the number of deaths spikes when the new flu season comes upon us in the fall of 2020? Will deaths be attributed to the flu, Covid-19, or something else? AND, what will all the smug experts and self-assured politician tell and wish to have us believe? Another house arrest disguised as a lockdown to save lives. Will there be a move by state governments to deprive us of dealing with our own doctors to determine our healthcare outcome and hinder (shutdown) our ability to work with employers and to deal with business and shop owners to maintain safe and healthy environments for everyone? Then, will the mainstream media get off the lockdown bandwagon and start placing emphasis on “We the People of the United States” and start investigating what “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” meant at the time of its writing, what it means today, and what the 2020 Coronavirus, Codid-19 lockdown did to those majestic words, with significant emphasis on hindering our “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

ImLogicallyRight

Agreed

Lt. Rob Polans ret.

I usually am 50/50 but now I agree with him.