Interesting Times
Opinion C.S. Miller
The Chinese have an ancient saying, actually it’s a curse, which reads, “May you live in interesting times.” How do we balance the personal freedoms our founding fathers gave us with the reality of despotic state governments trashing our rights under the guise of keeping us safe during a global pandemic? Are we too stupid to run our own lives, even after understanding the way this virus is transmitted? Are we so uncaring that we would expose others to infection? Do we need nanny state government to force us to comply? The answer is no.
The Chicom virus is changing how we live. It is the best excuse ever to those who think “never let a crisis go to waste.” Benjamin Franklin said: They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
As we have seen our very rights such as the first amendment, and the second amendment are under attack. Religious freedom protects our right to live, speak, and act according to belief. Without the second amendment, we would not have the first amendment.
Tyrannical Democratic governors have suspended personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, under the illusion they are protecting us from an unseen microscopic enemy. These are the same democratic governors who swore an oath on the Constitution and are now ignoring this oath. These governors have their states’ citizens on lockdown. But they have taken this further by telling these citizens what activities are allowed, especially regarding church attendance.
The Bluegrass state of Kentucky goes full totalitarian when Democrat Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced plans to record license plates of Easter Church goers and force them to self-quarantine for 14 days. The governor also announced additional actions against gatherings including allowing police to track license plates.
Kentucky’s Attorney General calls Gov. Beshear’s new action “arbitrary.”
After Governor Beshear’s actions, Louisville Kentucky Democrat Mayor Greg Fischer felt emboldened to ban drive-in Easter church services and use the local police as the new Stasi to arrest and detain any non-compliant parishioners. In an Orwellian twist, Fisher invited people to snitch on their fellow citizens “to save lives.” There are apps for reporting social distancing violators.
Fisher singled out Christians, but did not impose the same restrictions on drive-up, drive thru restaurants, liquor stores, grocery stores, or parking lots.
The church, On Fire, sued the mayor and Louisville city on Friday, arguing the mayor’s directive for churches to forgo gatherings due to the virus violated their Constitutional rights and their religious liberty.
District Court Judge Justin Walker agreed and issued an emergency restraining order banning the city from “enforcing; attempting to enforce; threatening to enforce; or otherwise requiring compliance with any prohibition on drive-in church services at On Fire.
In his Opinion, Walker stated, “On Holy Thursday an American Mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter. That sentence is one that this Court never expected to see outside of the pages of a dystopian novel, or the pages of The Onion. But two days ago, citing the need for social distancing, during the current pandemic, Louisville’s Democrat Mayor Greg Fisher ordered Christians not to attend Sunday services, even if they remained in their cars to worship—even though it’s Easter.”Walker also called the Mayor’s decision stunning and beyond all reason. He went on to declare that “Louisville violated the Free Exercise Clause, beyond all question.”
Kerri Kupec, Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson, posted this on Twitter hours after the judge ruled.
The Trump administration has vowed to protect churches from overreach by local officials perceived as overzealous.
In other states, Greenville Mississippi police fine Christians $500 for listening to sermons while parked in their cars. Greenville law enforcement informed Pastor Charles Hamilton of King James Bible Baptist Church in Greenville, MS, that his rights were suspended as they broke up a drive-in service. Pastor Hamilton said his rights came from God, and not the government. Police surrounded the parking lot where he was hosting a drive-in service on Thursday evening and fined the worshippers $500 per person.
Attorney General William P. Barr, issued the following statement:
But even in times of emergency, when reasonable and temporary restrictions are placed on rights, the First Amendment and federal statutory law prohibit discrimination against religious institutions and religious believers. Thus, government may not impose special restrictions on religious activity that do not also apply to similar nonreligious activity. Religious institutions must not be singled out for special burdens. …”
What we are seeing from liberal democrat government officials, are orders that are object lessons illustrating absurdity, and inconsistency of arbitrary power; and rule by fiat. We as Americans are fed up and will not tolerate this behavior. We will not tolerate the trashing of our hard won Constitutional rights.
NOTE: Judge Walker, 38, was appointed by President Donald J. Trump last year. On April 3, Trump announced his intention to elevate Walker to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
