(USA) — Government officials in Washington DC and across the country are looking forward to ending the national lockdown soon and returning to normal times, when Americans are allowed to go about their business without government direction or interference.
“This whole Coronavirus thing really forced us into a new role,” said one high official at the Centers for Disease Control. “We’re not used to telling our citizens what to do. It’s just not in our nature as bureaucrats.”
Added one state lieutenant-governor: “The idea of dictating whether people can leave their homes or open their businesses or go to church, even how close they can stand to each other and what they have to wear when outdoors … geesh… it’s not like we politicians were itching for untold decades to get this kind of power.”
“Yeah, it’ll be great to get back to the status quo,” said a relieved police chief, as his officers rounded up a group of old ladies assembling illegally in a church parking lot. “You know, when Americans barely knew government existed.”
The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. We also sometimes add a dose of humor to our journal in the great tradition of Western satirists like Erasmus of Rotterdam, John Dryden, and Jonathan Swift. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.
The featured image is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Ha ha
It may very well be the case that bureaucrats in CDC do not sit around thinking about how they may coerce the american public to do things that they need to do to protect themselves or be protected by the government. But the fundamental reality is the public health community of which the CDC is a part posses great authority to intervene in many aspects of our common life in order to check the spread of infectious diseases and to do so against our wishes should they deem it necessary. Even a cursory review of their authorities should give anyone who loves freedom room for pause. The old cry of :give me liberty or give me death” has been replaced with “give them life and to hell with liberty.” We need to think long and hard about this as we come out of this crisis and think about getting ready for the next one. We need to ask how much liberty we are willing to give up in order to save lives.
Love this new addition (satire) to The Imaginative Conservative.