Quote of the Day: Quarantine vs. Tyranny

 

“Quarantine is when you restrict movement of sick people. Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people.” – Meshawn Maddock, a protest organizer with the Michigan Conservative Coalition

We have seen this phrase pop up frequently since two weeks ago when Maddock was quoted as saying this by a news outlet. The reason why is the phrase rings true. While there was justification for a lockdown on March 15 (the last day I was able to attend a Sunday church service), that justification has long passed. We were told that we needed to lockdown for a month because it would keep hospitals from being overwhelmed and allow us to build up hospital capacity. That has been achieved. Any further lockdown is indeed tyranny.

I understand why politicians want to extend it. Ending the lockdown requires doing something. Keeping it going requires doing nothing. And doing something requires courage, something most politicians lack. Then they do what frightened people often do — lash out at those opposing them. It is the classic tactic of a bully because, at the core, all bullies are cowards.

Unfortunately, these bullies in power are aided by a legion of frightened people, people who are innumerate, and fail to understand mathematics, statistics, and science. And lacking faith in God, they instead blindly place their faith in the science and mathematics they fail to understand, taking the words of experts in those fields as holy writ, instead of a starting point for inquiry.

Cowardice and ignorance. It’s a powerful drug.

Published in Domestic Policy
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There are 18 comments.

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  1. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    Agreed. Enough already.

    • #1
  2. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Freedom requires valuing some things more than life.  If your own ( and perhaps your families ) life is your single concern,   you can be easily enslaved.   Christian Faith,  which holds that this life is not the end,  that there is something after death, helps to develop the courage that a free people need.

    • #2
  3. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):
    Christian Faith, which holds that this life is not the end, that there is something after death, helps to develop the courage that a free people need.

    Well put.

    • #3
  4. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Gretchen don’t care, and she’s not going to sign any bill that might restrict her powers.

    And this is the Quote of the Day, the easiest way to start a conversation on Ricochet. If you would like to join in the fun, come sign up for a day of your very own:

    http://ricochet.com/752667/quote-of-the-day-may-signup-sheet/

    • #4
  5. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Arahant (View Comment):
    Gretchen don’t care, and she’s not going to sign any bill that might restrict her powers.

    Gretchen “Call Me Karen” Witner is not my governor. Greg Abbott is. And people liker her are one of the main reasons I left my home state of Michigan for Texas 41 years ago.

    • #5
  6. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):
    Gretchen don’t care, and she’s not going to sign any bill that might restrict her powers.

    Gretchen “Call Me Karen” Witner is not my governor. Greg Abbott is. And people liker her are one of the main reasons I left my home state of Michigan for Texas 41 years ago.

    Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, the people of Michigan outvoted me, and she is my governor.

    • #6
  7. Ralphie Inactive
    Ralphie
    @Ralphie

    Seawriter:

    Unfortunately, these bullies in power are aided by a legion of frightened people, people who are innumerate, and fail to understand mathematics, statistics, and science. And lacking faith in God, they instead blindly place their faith in the science and mathematics they fail to understand, taking the words of experts in those fields as holy writ, instead of a starting point for inquiry.

    Cowardice and ignorance. It’s a powerful drug.

    A largely forgotten item is the value of private property rights, including your physical self.   The argument against having those rights in these times, is that if you don’t stay home, you may make Grandma die. If grandma dies and you didn’t stay home, it must be your fault.  I think that is a terrible and irresponsible message.  No health care for you if you don’t obey the governor is a common position among the stay home stay safe crowd.  

    You’ve hit the nail on the head in that cowardice and ignorance are rampant. Never has so much information been available, but you have to dig a little.  The Michigan coronavirus site has a lot of information on bed usage, nursing/long term care stats, respirators, individual hospital system cases/icu/ etc.  There are 14 hospital systems in the state with 0 cases/0 icu admits, some with a few cases and 0 icu admits. You should be able to guess where these are.  

    I’m waiting for a cascade preference of hospitals opening up and ignoring limiting orders. It has happened in Pennsylvania UMPC where 2% of their beds are COVID.  They have 40 hospitals and 87,000 employees. Hope this catches on.

    We are not all in this together, and anger over what is going on can be considered righteous I believe, so telling adults to be kind is a kind of shame tactic.

     

    • #7
  8. CarolJoy, Above Top Secret Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret
    @CarolJoy

    Within 6 weeks of The Zuckerbergs announcing that they would be supporting Bill Gates and then perhaps situating their Facebook policies such as to help Gates’ efforts to “save the world from COVID ” any mentions of Hydroxychloroquine that the FB algorithms notice  then are being deleted.

    I believe many thinking people are aware that if HCQ cost $ 1,100 a treatment rather than 20 bucks for a month’s worth, and if Bill Gates owned the patent on it, it would be mandated. But since it is the one thing that is effective and that threatens Gates’ multi year efforts to become the emperor of the world, it is now ignored. By ignoring HCQ, then doctors do need to worry that any surge in COVID deaths might cause a lack of hospital beds, and ventilators.

    But how crazy and tyrannical is that: to ignore a treatment that is proven, due to how lupus and rheumatoid patients have had few contracted cases of COVID, the few that they have experienced are mild, and not a single person in those two groups who is on hydroxychloroquine had died, we need to examine why this ban on HCQ and even its being mentioned is occurring!

    • #8
  9. CarolJoy, Above Top Secret Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret
    @CarolJoy

    Another reason to realize how tyrannical the COVID situation is occurs when you become aware of Dr Scott Jensen, and how he was “encouraged” to “admit” a patient’s death was due to COVID:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsRay1wInBg&t=8s

    • #9
  10. Katie Koppelman Coolidge
    Katie Koppelman
    @KatieKoppelman

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):
    Gretchen don’t care, and she’s not going to sign any bill that might restrict her powers.

    Gretchen “Call Me Karen” Witner is not my governor. Greg Abbott is. And people liker her are one of the main reasons I left my home state of Michigan for Texas 41 years ago.

    Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, the people of Michigan outvoted me, and she is my governor.

    Minnesota Governor Taxing Timmy Walz isn’t any better.  On Thursday by executive order, he extended our lokcdown until May 18th.

    • #10
  11. Susan in Seattle Member
    Susan in Seattle
    @SusaninSeattle

    Katie Koppelman (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):
    Gretchen don’t care, and she’s not going to sign any bill that might restrict her powers.

    Gretchen “Call Me Karen” Witner is not my governor. Greg Abbott is. And people liker her are one of the main reasons I left my home state of Michigan for Texas 41 years ago.

    Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, the people of Michigan outvoted me, and she is my governor.

    Minnesota Governor Taxing Timmy Walz isn’t any better. On Thursday by executive order, he extended our lokcdown until May 18th.

    And our governor extended ours until 31 May; he keeps moving the goalposts.

    • #11
  12. DrewInWisconsin is done with t… Member
    DrewInWisconsin is done with t…
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Katie Koppelman (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):
    Gretchen don’t care, and she’s not going to sign any bill that might restrict her powers.

    Gretchen “Call Me Karen” Witner is not my governor. Greg Abbott is. And people liker her are one of the main reasons I left my home state of Michigan for Texas 41 years ago.

    Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, the people of Michigan outvoted me, and she is my governor.

    Minnesota Governor Taxing Timmy Walz isn’t any better. On Thursday by executive order, he extended our lokcdown until May 18th.

    Which is still sooner than his neighbor to the East. We’re locked down until after Memorial Day.

    • #12
  13. Nicegrizzly Inactive
    Nicegrizzly
    @Nicegrizzly

    Just as a technical aside, restricting the movement of sick people is isolation, not quarantine. 

    • #13
  14. 9thDistrictNeighbor Member
    9thDistrictNeighbor
    @9thDistrictNeighbor

    Illinois Governor Cheeseburger laughs aloud when asked by the press about opening downstate areas up.  He sneers and scolds when a reporter reveals his wife left the state in early April on a private jet to their $12M horse property in Wellington, Florida.  He launches personal attacks on legislators who take him to court over his exceeding the legislatively-restricted 30 day state of emergency.  He swiftly adds exercising religious rights to the permitted activities (in groups no larger than ten) after a church pastor sues in Federal court.  Chicago Mayor Lightfoot promotes a website to allow you to snitch on people.

    We will shut you down, we will cite you, and if we need to, we will arrest you and we will take you to jail,” Lightfoot said.

    The mayor said she refuses to allow any individuals to upend the progress the city has made to limit the spread of COVID-19.

    “When you go out and party, when you go home to your momma, your grandma, or anybody in your household who has an underlying medical condition, you are bringing death to their doorstep,” Lightfoot said.

    Lightfoot and Chicago police are asking residents to anonymously submit tips about any house parties at cpdtip.com.

    Gun laws in Illinois are borderline draconian.   I fully understand the need for the Second Amendment now…and it is not to show off my big firearm at the Michigan statehouse.  Saying I fear my government is not a bumper sticker slogan any longer.  We are hip deep.

    • #14
  15. DrewInWisconsin is done with t… Member
    DrewInWisconsin is done with t…
    @DrewInWisconsin

    9thDistrictNeighbor (View Comment):
    Lightfoot and Chicago police are asking residents to anonymously submit tips about any house parties at cpdtip.com.

    Everyone should leave tips about house parties at Pritzker’s house.

    • #15
  16. 9thDistrictNeighbor Member
    9thDistrictNeighbor
    @9thDistrictNeighbor

    DrewInWisconsin is done with t… (View Comment):

    9thDistrictNeighbor (View Comment):
    Lightfoot and Chicago police are asking residents to anonymously submit tips about any house parties at cpdtip.com.

    Everyone should leave tips about house parties at Pritzker’s house.

    The one with or the one without toilets?

    • #16
  17. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Susan in Seattle (View Comment):

    Katie Koppelman (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):
    Gretchen don’t care, and she’s not going to sign any bill that might restrict her powers.

    Gretchen “Call Me Karen” Witner is not my governor. Greg Abbott is. And people liker her are one of the main reasons I left my home state of Michigan for Texas 41 years ago.

    Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, the people of Michigan outvoted me, and she is my governor.

    Minnesota Governor Taxing Timmy Walz isn’t any better. On Thursday by executive order, he extended our lokcdown until May 18th.

    And our governor extended ours until 31 May; he keeps moving the goalposts.

    The end game is to move the lockdowns past Election Day so everyone has to vote by mail, a proven way to tamper with an election . . .

    • #17
  18. Danny Alexander Member
    Danny Alexander
    @DannyAlexander

    I don’t know who this Maddock character is, but he seems like a horse’s hindquarters for spouting off such bilge — it’s the kind of remark that sets back the cause of liberty instead of advancing it.

    How so?

    Welp, in addition to #13 Nicegrizzly’s helpful point about *isolation* (rather) than quarantine being the countermeasure applied to the confirmed sick, I would point out as well that quarantine is in fact the countermeasure applied to the outwardly healthy who have yet to be tested to determine whether or not they are actually asymptomatic/infected-but-contagious.  

    Some of the Japanese government’s FUBAR approach to handling the outbreak situation on the Diamond Princess cruise liner — especially the chaotic ad hoc decision-making within and by a contingent of Japanese central-government bureaucrats involved with onboard situation monitoring, which ultimately resulted in many of their number getting infected and spreading the virus around the Tokyo metropolitan area — provides the most vivid illustration of failure to be alert to the risks posed by such asymptomatic cases.

    Maddock’s own failure to be alert to that wrinkle in the classification of who should be isolated versus quarantined versus unimpeded in the exercise of their liberty is not a trivial issue:  Setting aside whether or not there are gaps in his actual thought process about our current collective distress, just in strictly rhetoric-related terms alone, Maddock in effect is shooting his own case full of holes with regard to public credibility with turns of phrasing such as this.

    • #18
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