Dakota Beacon

            Who knew? Seventy-one years after George Orwell penned his novel 1984 the United States would devolve into Orwell’s prototype in the name of “public health and safety.” Nineteen Eighty-Four focuses on the consequences of government over-reach, totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of all persons and behaviors within society. Some have identified this as the slow death of civil liberties in the name of public safety.

            The Bill of Rights, as part of our US Constitution, explicitly informed the federal government what it could NOT do. Writers of the Bill of Rights were influenced by ideals from Reformation thinking (1517-1648). They also were well acquainted with the Black Death (1347), Great Plague (1665), and other pandemics. The authors knew what they were thinking when they wrote.

            The federal Coronavirus Taskforce Guidelines provide broad recommendations leaving implementation to state governors within the bounds of the US Constitution. These guidelines suggest social distancing, stay-at-home policies, masking, and business closures. As implemented, the effect was to shutdown huge sectors of the American economy. People who have financial reserves and income (government officials and bureaucrats) are telling people who have minimal financial reserves and little income (private sector and small business) to shelter in place. Government officials are making decisions with catastrophic effects on millions of lives.

            How are some governors performing? Here are a few of the scores of examples.

            Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI): Residents of Michigan, angry about overbearing executive orders have conducted massive protests. She has limited the number of customers in stores to four people per 1,000 square feet, closed areas of stores by cordoning them off, and directed removal of goods from shelves that are “non-essential” such as carpet, flooring, furniture, garden and plant supplies, and paint. (Breitbart 4/14/20) Also, visiting family and friends is prohibited. At least four county sheriffs have vowed to defy her restrictions.

            Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY): Beshear ordered a Kentucky shutdown including churches and threatened a 14-day quarantine possibly with GPS monitoring for anyone refusing to stay at home. Worshippers attending services in their cars in church parking lots with services broadcast over loud speakers were met with heavy police presence. State troopers were tracing license plates. (Breitbart 4/12/20)

            Governor Phil Murphy (D-NJ): Fox Host Tucker Carlson in an interview drew Murphy's attention to a widely publicized case in which 15 men were arrested for congregating at an Ocean County synagogue earlier this month, violating Murphy's ban on large gatherings and his stay-at-home order. “The Bill of Rights, as you well know, protects Americans' rights … to practice their religion as they see fit … to assemble peacefully," Carlson said. "By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order? How do you have the power to do that?" Murphy responded, "That's above my pay grade, Tucker. I wasn't thinking of the Bill of Rights when we did this ... we looked at all the data and the science and it says people have to stay away from each other.” (Fox News Tucker Carlson 4/15/20)

            Governor Steve Bullock (D-MT): Montana’s policies closely reflect those of California and New York. Even South Carolina, with a far greater population, hasn’t issued the same kind of shelter-in-place policies as Montana. In what might be one of the most draconian responses to coronavirus, Valley County, Montana mandated that people wear government-issued pink armbands in order to purchase products inside of stores. The measure insists that store-owners keep customers out unless they have the pink armband indicating they are medically cleared and coronavirus free. (Montana Daily Gazette 4/14/20)

            Governor Tate Reeves (R-MS): Drive-in church services keeping worshipers physically apart in their own cars were not allowed on Easter Sunday in a Mississippi community. The mayor and city council of Greenville banned all in-person church services and implemented a citywide 10 p.m. curfew from April 7 until Reeves’ statewide shelter-in-place order is lifted. “Churches are strongly encouraged to hold services via Facebook Live, Zoom, Free Conference Call, and any and all other social media, streaming and telephonic platforms,” the mayor’s office said in a press release. But the governor’s shelter-in-place order did not place a specific ban on drive-in services, and some pastors are trying to hold them in defiance of the city’s order. The Rev. James Hamilton of the King James Baptist Church in Greenville tried to hold a drive-in service anyway -- and police arrived to shut it down. (Fox News 4/9/20)

            Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH): DeWine has seen sizable consecutive weekly protests outside the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus voicing opposition to his lockdown mandate. (The Hill 4/15/20)

            The AP reports that New Jersey and Florida are using drones with pre-recorded messages to disperse open-air gatherings. Monitoring people is surveillance and surveillance is search, an illegal search. Some governors and mayors are asking neighbors to rat on others. Freedom of assembly? Right to privacy? Reflect on Orwell’s 1984 for a clear, concise portrayal of repressive regimentation.

            In the end the American people, not governments, will determine the end of the lockdown.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).