Will COVID become the next GWOT?

dblack

Diamond Member
May 21, 2011
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We make exceptions to the rules in emergency situations. Even for government. Policies and procedures which protect our rights in ordinary circumstances, can cost us our lives in an emergency, so we do what we gotta do.

But government quickly becomes accustomed to skipping the normal limits on its power, and will strive to perpetuate the state of emergency as long as possible. This happened, under Bush, with the PATRIOT ACT, and other laws, that introduced extra-constitutional practices in the name of fighting the terrorists who perpretrated 9/11. And then they resisted, are still resisting, dropping the emergency measures and going back to normal. They insist that the GWOT is still going on (and presumably will go on forever), and they want us to accept the radical increases in state power as the new normal.

Is this same thing happening with COVID? Will we ever go back to normal? Or will government cling to its newfound powers in any way it can?

I think it's time to roll it back. Yes, COVID is still out there. Yes, new variants are brewing. But we have to live our lives. We'll just have to accept that there is a new disease and deal with it. Rolling lockdowns, and ad-hoc mandates, will only postpone the inevitiable process of coming to terms with the way things are.
 

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