The Civil Rights Battle of Our Time

The issues around the CCP virus and the government's response are civil rights issues. 

Masking, physical distancing, business closures, medical testing, limits on gatherings — requiring obedience to a long list of questionable requirements and discriminating against those who have the temerity to object to any of it represents a clear violation of our natural civil rights. Yet we fail to properly identify it as such, and that makes it very hard to make any headway toward a just resolution.

During the racial civil rights battles just a few years before I was born, leaders of the movement recognized that there were two paths to justice: the political path (trying to influence legislators to do the right thing) and the resistance path (peaceful refusal to obey unjust laws — what's known as civil disobedience). As the former path becomes more and more impassible and implausible, one must naturally gravitate to the latter path, out of a logical desperation.

The Utah legislature's 2021 session showed us that the former path — a political solution — is not likely. The next session is in February 2022. We can't wait that long, and it will be the same ineffective legislators, anyway. We can hope to replace them in November 2022 and then get a better legislative session in 2023...but that is far too long to wait. We can hope to trigger the mechanisms for a special session in 2021, but once again, we'll have the same lawmakers in power — not a promising situation.

That leaves the latter path: civil disobedience. This path is fraught with varying degrees of risk. On one end of the spectrum, the risk is virtually nil. At the other end, you could face serious consequences, including incarceration, fines, loss of your job, and further restrictions on your freedom to participate in society. At the most extreme end, you could wind up dead.

Ignoring some rules bears very little potential downside. For example, I have hosted gatherings in my home, or attended such gatherings, that violated the Draconian rule against having more than ten people get together. This is not a rule that is being enforced in my county, and even if it were, there is very little chance of getting in trouble for breaking that rule. 

Likewise, I go about my daily business, visiting stores and restaurants, without wearing a face diaper. I show off my smile, behave like a normal human being, and am kindly treated like a normal human being. Of course, I am always under some degree of stress, constantly mentally armed with responses, should I be confronted. Thankfully, despite that anxiety, those confrontations don't happen, and the worst case scenario is I'd have to leave that place. Pretty much a no-risk endeavor, other than the personal cost of always feeling like I'm going to get into an argument, which is not a healthy or free way to live.

But then there are civilly disobedient actions that are higher risk. If my son were to choose to violate his school's ridiculous mask rules, he would get sent home. He'd miss school, and that would harm him. If I tried to get away with showing my face in a hospital or a plane, I would be denied important services. 

Moreover, if I decided to no longer use my hard-earned resources to fund this illegal puppet government that usurped their power and are no longer operating with the consent of the governed — that is, if I chose to stop paying my taxes — I'd be audited, fined, possibly incarcerated, and certainly have my wages garnished. Hitting them in the pocket book is a great way to learn how vicious their response can be. 

As the CCP virus restrictions get more severe ("health passports" and other social credit schemes), and as we're faced with a choice to comply or resist, that dichotomy could eventually lead to a situation where people are engaged in hot conflict. Violence. It's scary to think about.

But as we consider the means available to us for fighting the civil rights battle of our time, we need to ask ourselves where we draw our lines, which low-risk courses of action can result in some wins, and which high-risk actions will result in that boot stamping on our face repeatedly. And then ask ourselves if liberty is worth it.

I believe it is. We just need to be prudent as we weigh our options, because too much resistance can result in a lot of pain and no actual ground gained, and not enough resistance can lead to a place of tyranny from which it will be impossible to recover. Doing nothing means slipping down that slope to dystopia. Doing too much will get you squashed like a bug. A measured response is required.

So...what's your next move? Shall we overcome? If so, how?