~5 min read
“Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth, ecclesiasticall and civill” by British Library
An invisible explosion is taking place. Will America still be America after the fallout?
The all-powerful state is often demeaning, punitive, and arbitrary. For instance, in Park Chung-Hee’s South Korea, radio stations were barred from playing hundreds of foreign songs because Chung-Hee viewed them as being “decadent.” Men were banned from appearing on television if they had hair of a certain length and women were not allowed to wear skirts shorter than a government-approved length. In Saparmurat Niyazov’s Turkmenistan, long hair and beards were banned. Entertainment such as video games, circuses, opera, and ballet were also banned. Even now, Turkmen are not permitted to leave the country, and those that attempt to do so must do it quickly and surreptitiously to avoid being captured by the authorities. In Papa Doc Duvalier’s Haiti, all citizens were required to keep a portrait of his visage in their homes. Those who did not have it would be severely punished. Citizens were forced to recite an alternate version of the Lord’s prayer with Papa Doc Duvalier’s regime as the focus, in lieu of God or heaven. Any citizen who mocked Duvalier or had a word of criticism for him or his men would be jailed or executed.
Of course, the predicament that Americans are currently in has ostensibly been caused by a virus and not some group of revolutionaries or by some shadowy cabal. And all of these extreme government actions are absolutely necessary; at least that is what Americans are supposed to believe. And so the unbridled wickedness of totalitarianism will likely not be experienced, at least not for the moment. Still, the measures that are being taken, and the ones that are yet to be taken, will be convincing proxies of totalitarianism and possibly a preview of the future — a future that entails complete government control over the population. In the coming weeks, many in the United States will gain some familiarity with how powerless and how miniscule citizens become when confronted by an unrestrained and lumbering Leviathan.
Absolute power is fueled by fear. The panic and worry that naturally accompany the spread of an infectious disease combined with the amplification of that fear through mass media sensationalism has made the expansion of state power in the U.S. particularly effortless. When a so-called public health expert like Dr. Marty Makary appears on television and tells the American people that “what’s happening in Italy will happen in the USA,” or “what happened in Wuhan could happen here,” then naturally people will get scared. When another lab coat “expert” like Dr. Brian Monahan tells American lawmakers that he expects that 70 to 150 million Americans will contract the disease, and that he believes that 14 million of them will be severe, then of course reactionary measures and widespread panic will ensue. When the media gives round-the-clock updates on the “global death toll,” of course people are going to feel frightened. None of the facts and figures need to be correct. All that is needed is a constant hit parade of grave reports and an omnipresence of solemn and grim “disease experts.”
It is only when people are scared for their lives, both organically and artificially, that a massive rollback of civil liberties is feasible. The threat of the virus has caused such massive alarm in the population, that large swaths of the citizenry have permitted and in fact urged the state to do as it must, and to do it quickly. The state has moved swiftly and has enforced unprecedented measures while the people are in a frenzy and are incapable of fully processing what is happening. Without soundness of mind, the people cannot properly evaluate whether it is truly appropriate for the government to mandate that they hibernate until further notice. In their current mental state, they do not seem to mind that they must receive special permission from their overlords in order to leave their caves for a quick walk, grocery store run, or medical attention. The only consideration that a panicked populace can make in times of crisis is to procure its safety at all costs, even if that means the total loss of freedom. The survival instinct usurps rational considerations of the rule of law.
In Stalin’s Russia, the government used police terror to ensure that the population stayed in line. Everyone had to think the same, act the same, and display loyalty to the Party. Similarly, U.S. citizens will be expected to move in lockstep (following orders of quarantine, social distancing, and sanitizing), and to exhibit total fidelity to the cause at hand, which is fighting the virus. It is not out of the realm of possibility that if the coronavirus situation worsens, then people will willingly report the failure of friends and family to abide by the new rules just as many citizens in the Soviet Union served as spies and informants for the secret police against their own kin. Just last week in Dane County, Wisconsin, officials launched a website for citizens to report any mass gatherings that occurred in defiance of the “social distancing” orders given by Governor Tony Evers. Although the site was later taken down, it is not hard to imagine that if mass panic continues to build, then more and more people will want to contact law enforcement to ensure that everyone is “sheltering-in-place.”
“Stamps of the Soviet Union” By Dmitry Makeev
Once people basically become whistleblowers in service of the state apparatus, then distrust and suspicion will be heightened to a degree that has not been seen since the Red Scare. Because of the coronavirus, there will be an increased police and military presence in cities and towns and some frightened citizens will wholeheartedly welcome it. Though most of the compliance to state authority will stem from the fear of spreading the virus, some of it will come from the threat of punishment by law enforcement for violating the protocols of quarantine. After the pandemic ends, how much freedom will have been eroded? For how much longer will America still be the “land of the free”?
If you enjoyed what you read, please take a look at Section 3 when it is released
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