Just how much are you willing to give up to try to protect geriatric nursing home patients from getting the flu?
All of it, apparently.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Saturday that he won’t be swayed by the protests that erupted in his state demanding an end to the stay-at-home order.
“We are going to do the right thing, not judge by politics, not judge by protests, but by science,” Newsom told the Los Angeles Times.
Newsom said he encourages residents to “practice your free speech” so long as they maintain social distancing guidelines while doing so.
“I just want to encourage people that when you practice your free speech — which I don’t [just] embrace, I celebrate — just do so safely. This virus knows no political ideology. It doesn’t know if you are Republican or Democrat, supporting the president, opposing the president, so practice physical distancing,” Newsom said.
Several protests have popped up in the California this week, including one in Huntington Beach against the governor’s social distancing measures.
“Make sure that you are not infecting others. Even if you feel healthy and have no symptoms, you can spread this,” he added.
Growing unrest due to social distancing guidelines have resulted in dozens of protests across the country as groups demand an end to their state’s executive orders. The protests have mostly been spearheaded by local conservative groups.
I guess it goes without saying, but apparently I have to say it: freedom of movement is also a Constitutional right.
The Founders considered it so essential and obvious that “you can walk around in public where you like” that they didn’t bother to add it to the Constitution directly (even though it had been in the Articles of Confederation). However, the right to freely walk around has been repeatedly confirmed as a Constitutional right by the Supreme Court.
There is no possible way that anyone could argue that forcing people to stand 6 feet apart at all times is not a violation of their Constitutional rights. So saying “you can keep your free speech” is actually ridiculous, given that once the government begins violating even more basic rights, the Bill of Rights is obviously out the window.
Even people who don’t know the details are capable of understanding what a wild infringement on people’s rights this lockdown is. So the civil unrest is just getting started. The system is going to put off really bearing its teeth as long as it can, but the day is coming when you will see gnashing like never before.
The military is going to be released on the streets and there will be no more pretext of “you still have rights though.”