By Don Jans
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.
It is a Natural Right given to us by God to pursue our happiness. That would mean that, just like our right to life and liberty, the only role government can play in our right to pursue happiness is to protect that right. Since the right to pursue happiness is given by God to us, government does not have the right to limit or abolish that right. The collectivists (Marxists, communists, socialists, progressives, Democrats, – all virtually the same) disagree with all of our founding documents including the Declaration of Independence. The collectivist would have us believe that everything, including what we individualists refer to as Natural Rights, in fact come from government. Many collectivists would have us believe that God does not even exist, while those that say perhaps there is a God, but the laws of God are inferior to the laws of the state.
When it became known that a virus was moving throughout the world’s population, many of the collectivists saw this as an opportunity to wield even more power and control over those subject to the jurisdiction of these collectivists. In the United States, many governors, mayors, elected county officials, and bureaucrats used this virus to assert their power and control and pronounced that it is government and not God who has all control over the right to happiness of the individual. These collectivists used the long-used excuse of safety to implement draconian requirements drawn from the air to “lockdown the population.” In declaring these lockdowns, the collectivists even took it upon themselves to declare who is and who is not essential, which functions are and which functions are not essential, and under what conditions each individual can operate within a totally closed society.
The collectivists were totally wrong in so many aspects. The lockdowns, depriving the individual of their God given Natural Right to pursue happiness, were conducted based on political motives and applying no science to the decisions. Even as reality revealed that this virus was at most just another flu virus, the collectivists high on power, imposed even more draconian restrictions that caused serious health dangers to the public along with the serious financial damage being caused.
It is now becoming more and more apparent everyday that in fact the collectivists motives and demands of the collectivists had no concern for our founding documents and no concern for the well being of the people. The only concern was power and control. The most recent proof that the collectivists are only interested in power and control is the refusal to open schools. There is no logical or scientific argument to keep schools closed. The only reason for this action is to appease the Teachers Unions in their desire to move the fundamental transformation of the United States even closer to the Marxist totalitarian state to which they aspire.
That these lockdowns were absolutely wrong is the experience of one of the few nations that did not adhere to the desire to assume the role of God and restrict the Natural Right of pursuing happiness by imposing the lockdowns of the collectivists. That nation is Sweden. The results are now known.
In life, we encounter things which may work in theory, but not in practice. Communism is famously one of those things. Time travel is another. With any luck, Americans will soon come to realize that strict social distancing, economic lockdowns, and mask-wearing all belong in that category of supposedly sound ideas that simply don’t work in reality.
For evidence, let’s look to Sweden. As Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, an ER doctor at a hospital in Stockholm, writes on his blog, “COVID is over in Sweden. People have gone back to their normal lives and barely anyone is getting infected anymore.”
Unlike so many other countries, “Sweden never went into complete lockdown,” Dr. Kendrick writes. Non-essential businesses remained open, people continued frequenting restaurants, the kids stayed in school, and “very few people have bothered with face masks.” Basically, Sweden did the exact opposite of what most Americans tragically still believe are the necessary requirements to reach the outcome that Sweden has achieved. Kendrick argues what should now be obvious to any rational, thinking person, which is that “the size of the response in most of the world (not including Sweden) has been totally disproportionate to the threat.”
Naysayers may point to Sweden’s mortality rate to discount its success. But the virus has taken nearly 6,000 people in a country of 10 million, and one which tallies about 100,000 annual deaths each year. Given that 70 percent of those who died with COVID were over the age of 80 and very unhealthy, Kendrick argues, “quite a few of those 6,000 would have died this year anyway,” making COVID a “mere blip in terms of its effect on mortality.” And, while Sweden will likely continue to see deaths from COVID, it will likely never see anything close to those numbers again. The large number of deaths can be clearly attributed to a “complete lack of any immunity” to this novel coronavirus.
A few months ago, Dr. Kendrick says that “practically everyone who was tested had COVID,” even if the presenting symptom was a “nosebleed” or “stomach pain.” Today, he reports that he hasn’t seen a COVID patient in over a month, and even when he tests patients with fever or cough, the “tests invariably come back as negative.”
To be clear, Sweden’s economy is wide open. No one is social distancing or wearing a ridiculous mask. Life is back to normal, and the infection rate is still falling. It’s pretty safe to say the population in Sweden has now built some level of immunity to the virus, and all signs indeed point to the pandemic being over in Sweden.
What is the obvious takeaway from this? Perhaps Dr. Kendrick sums it up best, saying that he is “willing to bet that the countries that have shut down completely will see rates spike when they open up. If that is the case, then there won’t have been any point in shutting down in the first place.”
In other words, all of the lockdowns will have been meaningless.
Don Jans is a national acclaimed author and speaker. He is also a lifelong student of history, with a special emphasis on Russian history. His study of Russian history led to 1917 which led to the study of the teachings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Don has written five books on the topic of Collectivism (Marxism, Communism, Socialism, Fascism, and Progressivism).
Don has been a guest on numerous nationally and regionally broadcast radio programs. He is a weekly guest on a nationally broadcast radio program where he discusses collectivism and how it is impacting the United States, relating current happenings to the collectivist agenda.
Don has spoken to numerous groups across the nation on the topic of who and what is the United States and who and what is collectivism. The collectivist movement has called for a transformation of the United States. What is critical for all to understand is what is the transformation; what are we now and into what will we be transformed.
Don’s speaking approach is the same as his writing approach, and that is to be direct and straight forward with no regard for the current mandated approach of political correctness.
Samuel Adams said, “It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” If we are to remain free, we must be about setting brushfires of freedom.
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