Your Fear is Destroying this Country

This is an open letter to all those who are so fearful of COVID-19 that you are willing to impose indefinite, liberty-curbing restrictions on your fellow citizens.  I understand a certain amount of concern regarding this virus.  It has taken the lives of many people in America and in the world.
However, as the early days of this outbreak passed and it became apparent that, while more deadly than the seasonal flu, it was nowhere close to an apocalyptic event, this virus was not allowed to be put in proper perspective.  The true risks of death were never properly framed, instead allowing hyperbolic worst-case scenarios to be amplified and panic to ensue.  Panic led to poor public policy and life-altering devastation beyond the physical toll of the virus itself. 

Normal citizens suddenly became outlaws for not wearing masks, trying to keep their businesses open, having parties with friends, and attending church.  Neighbor has turned against neighbor as we have quickly been conditioned to view fellow human beings as potential agents of death who need to be properly compliant for the good of all.  No longer is it each person taking responsibility for their own well-being, but instead we have grown comfortable telling others how to live to enable us to feel safe.  And along the way many developed an irrational standard that no one should ever get sick again.

I believe that many of you are coming from a place of sincerity.  You want to protect yourselves, your loved ones, and society at large.  But there are bigger issues at stake than a virus.  Over the past year we have seen pastors arrested for the crime of keeping their churches open.  Mothers hauled off in handcuffs for taking their children to a playground.  We are now talking about forcing people to get injected with an experimental vaccine to obtain a “passport” to return to normal society.  We are vilifying our neighbors and seeing a dystopian society unfold before our very eyes.
​
But I suppose dystopia is in the eye of the beholder.  Those blinded by fear see restriction as prudence, compliance as necessary, and resistance as a threat to the safety of all.  However, if you persist in leading us down this path, the day will come when someone else’s fear will be used to force you to do something that you do not want to do.  Only then will you understand the proper balance between liberty and safety.  But by then it will be too late, because in the name of your vision of safety you will have silenced all the voices who might have spoken on behalf of your liberty.