The values that humans need to survive and prosper must be produced. Every value from food to smart phones, from shelter to medicines, from clothing to automobiles, must be produced. In their zeal to stop the spread of COVID-19, government officials are destroying America’s productive capacity.
The restrictions and controls on production and trade are being justified in the name of the “public health.” But there is no such thing as “the public.” There are only individuals, and it is individuals who are healthy or ill. When government officials speak of the “public health,” they seek to justify actions that harm the individuals who comprise the public.
In stifling production and trade, governments have put tens of millions of individuals out of work. Those individuals must now struggle to put food on the table, pay their rent or mortgage, and meet their other financial obligations. They have been forced into a potentially catastrophic situation, not because they did anything wrong, but because government has decided that shutting down production and trade is beneficial.
To protect the nebulous and undefined “public health,” the health of individuals is being sacrificed.
This is the inevitable result of the morality that dominates our culture–altruism. Altruism holds that we must place the welfare and interests of others before our own welfare and interests. And that is precisely what is happening during the current panicdemic–the welfare and interests of “the public” supersede the welfare and interests of individuals. Everyone, we are told, must sacrifice.
But if every individual must sacrifice, who benefits? It can’t be individuals, because we are all being forced to sacrifice our values–our jobs, our businesses, our futures.
The beneficiaries are those who want control over our lives–government officials. And government officials are being granted that control because of fear.
Yes, the coronavirus is dangerous. But it will pass. Government control over production, trade, and our lives is a much more dangerous virus, and it is much more difficult to eliminate. Life requires production. And production requires freedom from government mandates and dictates.